Golden Bears take opening round with Huskies

The Huskies and Golden Bears scrum it up late in the third period on Friday.

    As crazy as this sounds, a 6-1 final in favour of the University of Alberta Golden Bears didn’t do justice for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.

    On Friday night at the Ancient Rutherford Rink, the forever rivals renewed acquaintances for the first time in the regular season during the 2017-18 U Sports campaign.
    The Golden Bears entered the contest rated first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, while the Huskies were rated third.

    The two teams could have easily been locked in a 1980s style shootout as opposed to the lopsided win the final result was.
    The Golden Bears made good on their chances, while the Huskies couldn’t finish on their golden scoring opportunities.

    There is a good chance Huskies head coach Dave Adolph, his staff and his players will review the game tape and wonder what might have been.

Dylan Bredo had a pair of goals and an assist for the Golden Bears.

    At the start of the first period, Huskies defenceman Tanner Lishchynsky and star centre Kohl Bauml both rang shots off the post of the Golden Bears net.

    After those chances came and went, Golden Bears fourth-year defenceman Dylan Bredo slipped home a point shot to put the visitors up 1-0 at the 11:32 mark of the opening frame.

    Bredo’s goal didn’t put the brakes on the Huskies push. A short time after U of A went ahead, the Huskies had another golden scoring chance, when right-winger Parker Thomas passed the puck from behind the U of A net to linemate Alex Forsberg in front of the goal.

    Forsberg appeared to have a shot pegged for the top left corner of the U of A net, but he was robbed by the glove hand of Golden Bears netminder Brendan Burke.

    Bredo proceeded to put the Golden Bears up 2-0, when he scored from the low left slot with 1:42 to play in the first period.

Jamie Crooks celebrates his hat trick goal.

    The Huskies answered that with a power-play goal with 23 seconds to play in the opening frame, when centre Logan McVeigh slipped a pass from behind the U of A net to linemate Michael Sofillas. Sofillas buried his fifth goal of the season to cut the U of A lead to 2-1.

    Just 47 seconds into the second, left-winger Taylor Cooper potted his third goal of the season to give the Golden Bears a 3-1 edge.

    The Huskies proceeded to get on the power-play twice, but they couldn’t find the back of the net. The opportunities included a misfire by McVeigh on a backdoor passing play.

    Right after the second of those to power-play chances expired, the Golden Bears got up ice in clunky fashion with numbers resulting in a goal from left-winger Jamie Crooks.

    After 40 minutes, the Huskies trailed 4-1, while the shots on goal were even at 22-22. U of S had four power-play chances after two periods resulting in one goal. U of A had two power-play chances over the opening 40 minutes but was unable to cash in on those opportunities.

    The first and second periods included the usual pushing and shoving and beaking after the whistle, and the Huskies did a great job of keeping their emotions in check during that span of time.

    The Huskies needed to score early in the third to get some traction, but Crooks potted his second of the game at the 4:15 mark to put the visitors up 5-1. After that, garbage time ensued, where tempers did flare up.

Josh Roach controls the puck at the point during a Huskies power play.

    Huskies star defenceman Jesse Forsberg got in scrum with Golden Bears centre Tyson Baillie with 10:53 to play, and the officials sent them off with minors for roughing and game misconducts.

    A short time later, Huskies fourth-year defenceman Jordan Fransoo received minors for tripping and checking from behind and a game misconduct during one sequence.

    The most dangerous altercation occurred with 2:15 to play, when Golden Bears right-winger Steven Owre hit Huskies defenceman Sam Ruopp knee-to-knee. Huskies feisty forward Jaimen Yakubowski went after Owre, and a scrum ensued.

    Owre received a major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct. His infraction will be reviewed for a possible suspension for Saturday’s clash between these same two clubs at 7 p.m. at Rutherford.

    Yakubowski received a minor for roughing and a game misconduct, and Ruopp picked up a roughing minor.

U of S’s Kendall McFaull (#2) and U of A’s Jayden Hart battle for the puck.

    All the penalties did was allow Crooks to complete his hat trick with 33 seconds to play on a rare four-on-three power play.

    The officials should be given credit for kicking players out of the game, when the contest was basically decided on the scoreboard. While there were 73 minutes in penalties handed out in the third period, there could have potentially been a lot more dished out had the officials not handled things the way they did.

    Burke made 27 stops to pick up the win goal for the Golden Bears, who improved to 11-0 to remain first in the Canada West Conference. Jordon Cooke turned away 29 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies, who fell to 8-2-1 but still remained second in Canada West.

    The Huskies couldn’t be faulted for their effort on Friday. If they bear down on their golden scoring chances and clean up a couple of mishaps defensively, Saturday’s encounter can easily have a different storyline.

Dogs get a visit from a special Nova Scotian

Nova Scotia product Lindsay Horne, right, performs a ceremonial faceoff.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team a special and familiar visitor this weekend.

Coal Harbor, Nova Scotia, product Lindsay Horne traveled at his own expense this weekend to Saskatoon to see the Huskies in action. Horne is well-known to the Huskies.

    At the 2016 University Cup national championship tournament in Halifax, N.S., Horne was assigned as the Huskies volunteer host. Horne performed various assigned duties that included driving team staff members to various destinations, picking up baggage and delivering it and setting up facilities.

    Besides being the volunteer host, Horne became a fan of the team. He made tournament organizers aware of the squad’s tradition in the 2015-16 campaign of warming up in #24 jerseys to honour the late Cody Smuk, who was the Huskies gritty, hard-working forward that passed away of cancer in June of 2015.

    Horne, who is a full-time sales representative for Choisy Laboratories, organized his sons and their classmates to become a Huskies cheering section wearing #24 shirts at each game the Dogs played.

    When the Huskies returned to the University Cup in 2017 held in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Horne took time off work, drove to Fredericton and convinced the organizing committee to let him serve as the team’s volunteer host once again. Horne was named an “Honourary Huskie” by the Dogs for his efforts.

    Horne followed the Huskies U Sports game broadcasts online, but he had a desire to see a contest live in the Rutherford Rink and maybe assist in a rust clean up.

    He visited the U of S campus and the team’s practice on Thursday. Before Friday’s game, Horne dropped the puck for a ceremonial faceoff.

    There was one rust break in Friday’s game, where the puck hit the Rutherford Rink roof dropping rust to the ice surface, but Horne didn’t have to help with the cleanup.

    Horne will be in attendance when the Huskies face the U of Alberta Golden Bears on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Rutherford.

Pandas end Huskies winning streak

Kori Herner scored for the Huskies on Friday.

    The defending U Sports national champion U of Alberta Pandas women’s hockey team brought the U of Saskatchewan Huskies four-game winning streak to an end.

    On Friday at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, the Pandas, who are rated first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, downed the Huskies 3-1.

    The Pandas carried a big advantage in play outshooting the Huskies 20-6 over the first two periods. Thanks to the play of Huskies netminder Jessica Vance, the hosts were only able to build a 1-0 lead on a second period goal by Pandas captain Cayle Dillon.

    Fifth-year forward Ashley Morin extended the Pandas lead to 2-0 at the four-minute mark of the third.

    Just 29 seconds after that tally, fifth-year forward Kori Herner potted her second goal of the season for the Huskies to cut the Pandas edge to 2-1. Huskies sophomore checking forward Danielle Nogier picked up her first career U Sports regular season point with an assist on Herner’s goal.

    U of S played a strong third, but Pandas third-year forward Autumn MacDougall scored with 5:02 to play in the third to round out the scoring in U of A’s two-goal win.

    Vance made 23 stops to take the loss in goal for the Huskies (7-3-1). Kirsten Chamberlin turned away 16 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pandas (7-2-2).

    The two teams go at it again on Saturday in Edmonton at the Clare Drake Arena.

Wheat Kings’ Thompson stones Blades

Cameron Hebig scored the Blades lone goal on Friday night.

    The Saskatoon Blades fired everything including the kitchen sink at Brandon Wheat Kings goalie Logan Thompson but were only able to get one goal past the overage veteran.

    Thompson made 42 saves to back the Wheat Kings to a 4-1 victory over the Blades before 6,242 spectator at the SaskTel Centre. The Blades pulled in their second largest crowd of the season due to the clash with Brandon being the annual game where the “blue and gold” honours First Nations.

    After the two teams played through a scoreless opening frame, the Wheat Kings jumped ahead 3-0 in the second period with singles coming from the sticks of Baron Thompson, Cole Reinhardt and Linden McCorrister.

    At the 7:58 mark of the third, star overage centre Cameron Hebig scored the Blades lone goal to cut the Wheat Kings lead to 3-1.

    Stelio Mattheos netted a single to restore Brandon’s three-goal lead at the 12:55 mark of the third.

Nolan Maier, who is a 16-year-old rookie making his second career WHL regular season start, turned away 21 shots to take setback in goal for the Blades.

    The Wheat Kings have won their last four straight to improve to 13-6-0-1. The Blades fell to 8-11-1.

    “The Bridge City Bunch” returns to action on Saturday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to face the WHL leading Warriors (17-5).

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. A big thanks goes out to Michael P.J. Kennedy at the U of Saskatchewan for the huge assist with the section on Huskies fan Lindsay Horne.

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