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| The Golden Bears celebrate a goal from captain Riley Kieser. |
U of A’s forward unit centred by captain Riley Kieser
flanked by Cole Sanford at right wing and Trevor Cox at left wing played like
three Theo Fleurys on the ice. They brought agitation and skill knocking the
University of Saskatchewan Huskies off their game on Saturday and accounted for
the Golden Bears first two goals.
When the dust settled at Merlis Belsher Place, the Golden
Bears skated away with a 3-0 victory over the Huskies in Game 2 of the best-of-three
Canada West final before a packed crowd of 2,643 spectators. The win by the
Golden Bears evens the series at 1-1 and forces a series deciding Game 3 on
Sunday at 7 p.m. at Merlis.
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| Riley Kieser had a goal and an assist for the Golden Bears. |
Following Saturday’s
game, Kieser said the Golden Bears entered Game 2 with the goal of coming out
with a better work ethic, more intensity and were trying to avoid getting too
pretty in the skill department.
“We won one-on-one
battles,” said Kieser. “We got pucks in deep and made them work in their defensive
zone. It was a lot more fun game to play.”
Kieser’s line seemed
to be in the centre of all sorts of little skirmishes in the opening frame. It
appeared that unit in particular had a different sort of high intensity to
their game playing at their “pest best.”
After a scoreless
first period, Kieser opened the game’s scoring 19 seconds into the second
period, when he ripped home a goal from the top of the left faceoff circle.
Sanford picked up an assist on the tally.
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| Cole Sanford had a pair of assists for the Golden Bears. |
“We weren’t able to
get that yesterday, but we got it today and just rolled with it.”
At the 13:46 mark of
the second period, the “Rat Line” struck again to put the Golden Bears up 2-0.
Kieser had the puck behind the Huskies net and slipped a beauty centring pass
to Cox in front of the U of S goal.
Cox fired home the
insurance marker with Sanford picking up an assist on the play as well.
The trio also has
all sorts of playoff experience coming in both the WHL and U Sports.
Kieser helped the
Edmonton Oil Kings win the WHL and Memorial Cup championships in his final season
of major junior hockey in 2013-14. Upon joining the Golden Bears, he helped U
of A win the David Johnston University Cup as U Sports national champions in
his first campaign with the team in 2014-15 and last season.
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| Trevor Cox had a goal for the Golden Bears. |
“It is great to play
with those two guys,” said Kieser. “They definitely bring a lot to the game.
“They play with a
lot of intensity and a lot of work ethic. I think all four of our lines came
out hard tonight, but we were fortunate on a couple of goals, so that
definitely set tone.”
Grayson Pawlenchuk,
who was the Canada West rookie of the year, capped the Golden Bears victory
scoring a power-play goal from a bad angle at the 9:11 mark of the third
period.
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| Trevor Cox (#36) and Riley Kieser (#14) agitated the Huskies. |
Saturday’s clash,
which was the 510th overall meeting between the two sides, was very
much a rivalry game that included both teams delivering a lot of extra shots
after whistles. The officials would attend to a scrum at one end of the ice,
and something underhanded would happen at the other end of the ice.
Huskie sophomore
defenceman Sam Ruopp was slammed hard on a couple of occasions including being
the victim of a hard hit from behind by Cox in the first period and being nailed
by another U of A player in the third period.
 |
| Saturday’s game was filled with lots of rough stuff. |
With 2:11 remaining in
the third, Huskies sophomore forward Alex Forsberg tackled Cox and was given a
tripping minor, a roughing minor and a 10-minute misconduct. Huskies captain
Jesse Forsberg, who is Alex’s older brother, also received a 10-minute
misconduct at that point in the game.
At the 19:22 mark of
the third, Huskies left-winger and agitator Jaimen Yakubowski was given a
roughing major, while centre Wyatt Johnson and right-winger Carter Folk were
given 10-minute misconducts during the same stoppage.
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| Golden Bears RW Brandon Magee and Huskies D Jesse Forsberg get tied up. |
The Huskies finished the game with 58 minutes in penalties, while the Golden Bears had 12 minutes of infraction accessed against them.
“It is always a good
feeling to know that they are getting frustrated,” said Kieser. “You just want
to keep playing your game, play the right way and you will get rewarded, and
that is what we did today.”
When the puck drops
for Sunday’s series deciding Game 3 between these “forever rivals,” Kieser
believes the Huskies will be over their frustrations and his side has to be
ready for a most focused push back from the U of S side.
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| The Golden Bears celebrate their win on Saturday night. |
“It is going to be a great game.”
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comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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