Cooke, McVeigh steal win for Huskies

Logan McVeigh fires home an equalizing goal for the Huskies.

  The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team might be able to go out for Halloween as the Calgary Flames of the “Iggy” and “Kipper” era.

    When Jerome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff played for the Flames, the joke was Iginla would pot a couple of goals and Kiprusoff would make like 47 save to lead the Flames to a 2-1 victory, which was often the story when those two played together in Calgary.

    On Friday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink, Huskies faced their toughest foe of the season in the two-time defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport champion University of Alberta Golden Bears.

    Huskies netminder Jordon Cooke played the role of Kiprusoff making 44 saves, Logan McVeigh took on the part of Iginla scoring a couple of goals, and those performances equaled a 3-2 comeback victory for the Dogs.

    The 477^th all-time meeting between the two historic rivals definitely had drama. Just 58 seconds into the contest, the Huskies scored on their first shot of the game, when rookie forward Andrew Johnson slipped home an on-ice shot past Golden Bears goalie Luke Siemens to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

    The defending national champs responded by throwing everything including what seemed like the kitchen sink at Cooke. Even an extended rust break couldn’t halt the Golden Bears onslaught of shots. The lengthy break was caused, when a puck went into the Ruthy’s roof causing one steel beam to drop a straight line of rust across the ice, while two other beams added sprinkles of rust.

    With 58 seconds to go in the first, the Golden Bears were able to even things up at 1-1, when star forward Jordan Hickmott deflected home a point shot from defenceman Jordan Rowley.

Jordon Cooke made 44 saves to backstop the Huskies to victory.

    Cooke still made 22 saves through the first 20 minutes to keep the Huskies in the contest.

    The Golden Bears went ahead 2-1 at the 5:25 mark of the second, when rearguard Dylan Bredo found the back of the net for his first of the season. U of A kept coming at Cooke in waves, but the sophomore netminder slammed the door for the rest of the contest.

    As the second came to a close, the Huskies started to string a series of good shifts together, which started to turn the tide of the contest. The hosts played their best structural frame in the third, which cued the comeback.

    Just past the midway point of the third, John Lawrence and Jesse Ross combined to set up McVeigh with a scoring chance in front of the Golden Bears net. McVeigh made no mistake wiring home a shot to the top corner of the U of A goal to tie things up at 2-2.

    A little over three minutes later McVeigh tucked home the rebound from a point shot coming off the stick of Huskies captain Kendall McFaull to put the hosts up by the eventual final of 3-2.

    Down the stretch Cooke made a couple of nice glove saves to preserve the victory, which allowed the Huskies to remain undefeated at 7-0. Siemens made 22 stops as the Golden Bears dropped to 4-2-1.

    The two teams go at it again on Halloween night Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Rutherford Rink.

Hendricks robs Pandas

Huskies goalie Cassidy Hendricks frustrated the Pandas.

    Speaking of robberies, the Edmonton City Police department might be looking to put University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s team goalie Cassidy Hendricks behind bars for the number she did on the host University of Alberta Pandas on Friday night.

    Hendricks turned away 28 shots through regulation and overtime, which included making seven saves in a scoreless three-on-three five minute overtime period. The Vancouver product proceeded to stop all three shooters she faced in a tiebreaking shootout to lift Huskies to a 3-2 victory.

    In contrast, Pandas goalie Lindsey Post only face 10 shots through regulation and overtime and made eight saves over that stretch. Post stopped only one of two shooters in the tiebreaking shootout in her side’s setback.

    Despite the lopsided edge the Pandas had in the shots department, the Huskies held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in regulation thanks to goals by star defender Julia Flinton and standout forward Kaitlin Willoughby, who returned after missing two games due to injury. Flinton netted the lone goal in the shootout.

    Cayle Dillon and Ashley Morin had the regulation replies for the Pandas.

    The win was the fourth in a row for the Huskies, and it moved them into first place in the Canada West standings with a 7-1-1 mark. They sit a point up on the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns. The Pandas fell to 4-4-1.

    These two clubs go at it again on Halloween Saturday in Edmonton.

    If you have any comments to make about this blog post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.