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| Jared Janotta (#21) loses a last second winning catch. |
On Saturday at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies downed the University of Regina Rams 21-16 in a Canada West regular season game. The victorious Huskies improved to 3-1, but it was pretty obvious on the field their intensity level was lacking.
While they won, they looked a lot more intense and a lot more polished offensively in their previous game falling 38-24 at home to the University of Calgary Dinos on Sept. 19. The Dinos have won the last six straight Canada West titles, and Dogs entered that contest as major underdogs.
The Huskies came away from that tilt with the Dinos feeling good about the potential they could have. All of a sudden the match with the Rams, who fell to 1-3 on Saturday, was a trap game.
The Rams led 13-11 at halftime and were on the better end of the scoreboard for most of the second half. It was their game for the taking.
The Huskies went up 21-16 with 1:53
to play in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Drew Burko hit running back
Shane Buchanan on a five-yard pass.
After that score, the Rams had two
possessions offensively. On the second possession, it looked like Rams
first-year quarterback Noah Picton was going to have his first Joe Montana-like
moment with the team.
He drove his squad 80 yards
downfield to the Huskies 17. Picton then threw what appeared was going to be a
game-winning touchdown strike to Jared Janotta in the end zone. The ball
bounced off Janotta’s hands and into the mitts of Huskies defensive back Keegan
Arnyek for a game-saving interception.
The Rams, who fell to 1-3, came away unhappy a victory
which they should have had eluded their grasp. The Huskies weren’t satisfied,
because the level of their play dropped from the loss to the Dinos.
In order to have a good season,
teams will have to pull out the odd victory in a game where the effort was
lacklustre. The Huskies still found a way to win, so that has to ultimately be
seen as a good sign for them.
This coming Saturday, the Dogs
return home to Griffiths Stadium to host the University of British Columbia
Thunderbirds for a 7 p.m. start. The Vanier Cup will be on display at the
pre-game from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m., and fans can have their picture taken with the
CIS championship trophy.
In an interesting development on
Monday, the Huskies found out they were tied for first in the Canada West
Conference. The Dinos fell to 3-1, when their regular season opening win over
the University of Alberta Golden Bears was ruled a 1-0 win by the Golden Bears
due to the fact the Dinos used two academically ineligible players.
U of C holds the tiebreaker in the
standings due to their win over the Huskies. The Dinos originally won the
overturned contest against the Golden Bears 71-3 on Sept. 5.
Goaltending, defence paved the way for Dogs
Goaltending and defence are expected to be the strengths of the Huskies men’s hockey team, and that proved to be true in the first weekend of the Canada West regular season play.
The Huskies blanked the University
of Regina Cougars 2-0 at the ancient Rutherford Rink in Saskatoon on Friday and
then downed the Cougars 4-2 on Saturday in Regina.
In Friday’s win, fifth year
netminder Ryan Holfeld stopped 34 shots for the shutout, and the law student
made every save look easy even the difficult ones. Former Canadian Hockey
League goaltender of the year Jordon Cooke turned away 31 shots in Saturday’s
win.
U of S graduated their top four
leading scorers from a season ago in Derek Hulak, Kenton Dulle, Andrew Bailey
and Brennan Bosch along with Ryan McDonald, who was part of a three-way tie for
seventh in team scoring. All of them are outstanding individuals, who also all
had strong WHL backgrounds. Their departure does leave a big hole.
Some of the newcomers showed some
interesting potential. In the 2-0 win, Rhyse Dieno, who piled up points with
the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels, had a nice breakaway goal.
Michael Sofillas, a former member of
the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, scored a goal in each win and was flying
around the rink.
The Huskies were also 4-for-9 on the
power play on the weekend. If success continues in that area, it will further
boost the Huskies’ offence.
The Dogs return to action this
coming Friday and Saturday hosting the Thunderbirds at 7 p.m. each night at the
Rutherford Rink.
The women’s hockey team opens their
regular season schedule this weekend traveling to Vancouver to take on the
Thunderbirds this Friday and Saturday.
NHL game kind of a dud
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| The Oilers and Blackhawks face off at the Credit Union Centre. |
NHL exhibition game. Meh.
On Sunday, the building known until
Wednesday as the Credit Union Centre played host to a pre-season NHL contest
between the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago skated away with a
5-0 victory and 10,760 spectators saw both side ice rosters were only about half
their players spent time in the show last season.
On Monday, the Oilers actually sent
five players that appeared in Sunday’s loss to their American Hockey League affiliate
the Oklahoma City Barons. With so many non-NHL players on the ice, it seemed
like those in the building weren’t all that enthusiastic about what transpired.
There was cheering, but there wasn’t as much cheering as you would expect.
After checking the video, the
quality of the Blackhawks’ goals looked better than they first seemed, as they
scored on a number of tipped chances. Kris Versteeg’s tally was the best one as
he scored after being sent in alone on goal on a pass from Bryan Bickell to put
the Hawks up 5-0 late in the third.
With that said, spectators paid
between $59.50 to $112 per ticket including fees to attend Sunday’s match. In all
honestly, those in attendance didn’t get their monies worth. In case you were
wondering, attendance was announced in the building at 10,303 before being
adjusted on the scoresheet at the end of the contest.
Hilltops roll off third straight win
For those that made it to the Saskatoon Minor Football Field on Sunday, they saw an entertaining performance from the Saskatoon Hilltops.
The Hilltops rolled off their third
straight victory downing the Winnipeg Rifles 48-23. The hosts piled up 242
yards through the air and 150 yards on the ground.
Unfortunately, only 808 spectators
turned out for this contest. Attendance took a double hit, as the NHL
exhibition game between the Oilers and Blackhawks was to start almost
immediately after the Hilltops game ended. It was also overcast outside and the
temperature was around 10 C, so that likely help keep people away as well.
All of that was too bad, because the
Hilltops are a fun team to watch.
With the win, Saskatoon improved to
4-2 and tied the defending CJFL champion Regina Thunder for first in the
Prairie Football Conference. The Thunder fell 20-13 at home to the Calgary
Colts on Sunday.
Regina holds the tiebreaker in the
standings having swept the two head-to-head matches with Saskatoon.
If you have any feedback on this
blog, feel free to email comments to stankssports@gmail.com.
