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| Huskies goaltender and law student Ryan Holfeld in action. |
The Canadian Interuniversity Sport
men’s hockey league will showcase arguably some of the best hockey at a non-professional
level in the country. For a nation that considers the sport of hockey as No. 1,
the men’s game at the university level will draw little attention nationally until
the University Cup championship tournament takes place.
In some pockets of the country, it
gains big attention on campus when the league’s various conference playoffs hit
the ice.
On Friday, the University of
Saskatchewan Huskies begin another regular season hosting their provincial
rivals the University of Regina Cougars at the ancient Rutherford Rink for a 7
p.m. faceoff locally.
The Huskies get fairly good support
as about 800 to 1,000 people pack their small home barn for regular season
contests. They also get fairly good coverage from the Saskatoon media outlets,
who are pretty much calling this the season of change with 11 departures from
last year’s squad.
While the Huskies will contain a whole
host of new players, you can beat they will be entertaining to watch.
See players in the CIS ranks are
usually made up of graduates from mainly the major junior game and also the
junior A levels. The Huskies are made up of players from the Western Hockey
League major junior circuit and also the junior A leagues in Alberta, Manitoba
and Saskatchewan.
Every season, the junior levels of
hockey in Canada graduate a huge amount of talented players, who are still
looking for opportunities to play. As maybe only about three players on any
major junior team on any given season will have the chance to play in an NHL
regular season game, you are usually looking at about 20 guys on each team that
won’t make the show.
When junior ends, players have to
decide if it is worth pursuing contacts in minor professional circles like the
American Hockey League, East Coast Hockey League and Central Hockey League or
pursuing a backup plan.
The reality of professional hockey
is it is a business. You might play two or three seasons in the minor
professional ranks and be done with playing the game at a competitive level.
For that matter, there are numerous players that play out their three-year NHL
entry-level contracts in the minor professional ranks and end up calling it a
career.
With that in mind, a lot of players
choose to play on a Canadian university team and get their degree. The dream of
playing professionally isn’t totally dead, but you are taking steps to move on
in life.
For those that join the CIS ranks,
they are told the level of play won’t be a step down from what they experienced
in junior. They are told to expect it to be on the same level of what they
experienced in junior or even a step up.
The step up comes from the fact the players are smarter, as the veterans
have the benefit of experience in the university classroom behind them, and
they are also more mature given the fact they are older. Actually, it is pretty
common for CIS rookies to encounter veterans who are on the path to marriage in
their personal lives.
The one thing the CIS level doesn’t
have are the superstars from the major junior ranks that are first round
selections in the NHL Entry Draft like Jordan Eberle, Tyler Ennis, Emerson Etem
and Nikita Scherbak.
Skilled players do go through CIS.
Last year, Derek Hulak completed a four-year career with the Huskies being
named the Canada West MVP, a CIS first team all-Canadian and the CIS tournament
MVP.
He proceeded to join the Texas Stars
of the AHL and helped them with the Calder Cup as league champions. Hulak is
back with the Stars this season with an AHL deal. Before joining the Huskies,
he was a standout scorer and captain with his hometown WHL team the Saskatoon
Blades.
The Huskies former captain Brennan
Bosch is best known in hockey circles for scoring the Game 7 double overtime
winning goal that deliver a WHL title to the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2007. He
moved on from playing on a potent scoring line with Ennis to a successful
five-year career with the Huskies. Bosch graduated as the team’s captain and
also with his degree in pharmacy.
Current Huskies fifth-year forward
Craig McCallum was the leading scorer for the Prince Albert Raiders in his
final WHL campaign. Huskies rookie forward Rhyse Dieno averaged over a point a
game in his final two WHL seasons with the Red Deer Rebels.
Fifth-year standout goaltender Ryan
Holfeld has stolen a few games in his time for the Huskies and posted a .918
save percentage and a 2.42 goals against average last season. In the classroom,
this former member of the WHL’s Tigers is kept busy with his studies in law.
With Holfeld on the verge of
exhausting his eligibility, the Huskies were able to recruit Jordon Cooke, who
was the named the CHL’s goalie of the year last season as a member of the
Kelowna Rockets.
The team is loaded with good
character guys like Sean and Kyle Aschim, Connor Cox, Matt Delahey, Kendall
McFaull and Matthew Spafford and the names can go on from there.
When these players are done at the
CIS level, you would like to see them get another professional shot. They are
usually around the age of 25 by that time, and their maturity level is high
enough that you don’t have to worry about them away from the ice.
With that said, it is money well
spent to see these players perform in the CIS league.
If you have any feedback on this
blog, feel free to email comments to stankssports@gmail.com.
