Huskies exorcise Golden Bears hex with 5-0 win

Carson Stadnyk celebrates scoring a third period power play goal.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team did not want to go winless against their “forever rivals.”

    Entering play on Saturday, the University of Alberta Golden Bears, who are rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, had won all four head-to-head encounters with the Huskies including one pre-season meeting and three regular season contests.

    The two sides met for the final time in the regular season on Saturday, and the Huskies pulled out a huge getting over the hump 5-0 victory before 1,369 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place. 
    The Huskies, who are rated fifth in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, took a 1-0 lead in the first and surged scoring four goals in the third in a span of three minutes and 52 seconds.

    The U of S victory came one night after the Golden Bears posted a 3-0 victory at Merlis.

The Huskies scramble to keep the puck out of their net.

    “Whenever we are playing them, there are a few more people in the crowd and obviously lots of family and friends,” said Huskies left-winger Collin Shirley. “The rivalry has been there for however many years.

    “I know (Huskies head coach) Dave (Adolph) gets real amped and excited for these games and so do we. We came out flat yesterday, and we weren’t happy with how we played. Tonight, it was a lot better.

    “They still outshot us tonight, but we were right there. We played the right way, and it paid off for us.”

    Shirley and star netminder Taran Kozun delivered the biggest performances on the night for the Huskies. Shirley had a goal, three assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department, and Kozun made 35 saves to pick up his second shutout of the campaign.

Taran Kozun makes one of his 35 saves on Saturday.

    Kozun received help too, as the Huskies skaters blocked a number of shots in front of him. Huskies second-year defenceman Gordie Ballhorn took a shot of his nose to contribute to the shot blocking effort.

    Shirley said Saturday’s win does give his club some added confidence.

    “Once you beat them once, you know you can do it again,” said Shirley. “You just have to do the right things and play the right way.

    “I think for us it was a big win and a big win for the confidence and moving forward for the rest of the second half here.”

    The Huskies broke through on the scoreboard at the 8:53 mark of the opening frame when right-winger Carson Stadnyk blew a mid-range shot past Golden Bears netminder Matt Berlin on the power play.

The Huskies celebrate a goal from Jeff Faith.

    U of A attempted to push back, but Kozun held his ground stopping 24 shots over the first 40 minutes of the contest. Kozun kept the Huskies in their 3-0 setback on Friday night making 46 saves in that outing.

    “You have to have good goaltending to win,” said Adolph. “Kozy (Kozun), he is so competitive.

    “Last night, he was good. I think he was even better tonight.”

    While Golden Bears tired to find the equalizer after the Huskies went ahead 1-0 on Saturday, the host side was still getting their chances to pull further ahead.

    The Huskies eventually blew things open starting at the 7:38 mark of the third period scoring four goals in a span of 3:52. 

Collin Shirley had a goal and three assists for the Huskies.

    The surge started when Stadnyk deflected home a shot from Shirley for a second power-play goal to give the Huskies a 2-0 edge.

    Just 18 seconds after that tally, Shirley got the puck along the icing line to the left side of the U of A goal, and he sent a backdoor pass over to right-winger Jeff Faith, who potted his second goal of the season to put the Huskies up 3-0.

    Shortly before the midway point of the frame, rookie centre Jared Dmytriw sprung Shirley on a breakaway. Shirley proceeded to rip a shot to the right corner of the U of A net to give the Huskies a 4-0 edge.
    With 8:30 remaining in the third, Huskies sophomore defenceman Shane Collins sprung fifth-year right-winger Levi Cable on a breakaway.

Levi Cable scored the Huskies fifth goal on Saturday.

    Cable wired home his fifth goal of the season to conclude the surge and round out the scoring and win for the Huskies.

    Kozun was pleased to see the offensive fireworks.

    “We haven’t scored against them very often the whole time the last two years,” said Kozun. “It is good to be able break down that wall and give the boys a lot of confidence going in the next time we have to play them.”

    Rookie netminder Matt Berlin turned away 17 shots to take the setback in goal for the Golden Bears.

    The Golden Bears fell to 15-3, but they still sit first in the Canada West Conference standings. The University of Calgary Dinos sit second with a 13-3-2 mark, the Huskies are third with a 12-4-2 record and the Mount Royal University Cougars occupy fourth with an 11-5-0-2 mark.

    The first and second place teams in Canada West earn byes to host best-of-three conference semifinal playoff series.

    “We want to still try and stay in the hunt for that second place spot,” said Adolph. “With Mount Royal losing last night and Calgary winning both this weekend, it is important that we give ourselves a foothold in terms of trying to control that spot.

The Huskies celebrate their win on Saturday.

    “Alberta is going to take a run at it, and I’m not too worried about that. I just think we have to focus on what we have. I still think we are one of the better teams in the country, and we have the ability to beat Alberta.”

    The encounters on Friday and Saturday with the Golden Bears were the Huskies first two games since returning from their Christmas break. Kozun thought it was good face the Golden Bears immediate after the break.

    “It is fun playing them in the first weekend back,” said Kozun. “You really get to set the tempo for the rest of the second half.

    “It is a quick month, and then it is pretty much playoff time. It is good to play them first and get them out of the way and get yourself used to how you have to play the whole second half.”

    The Huskies return to action this coming Friday, when they travel to Lethbridge, Alta., to face the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (5-12-1).

Pandas down Huskies 3-2, sweep series

Abby Shirley scored for the Huskies on Saturday.

    The U of Alberta Pandas women’s hockey team came up with the last big play to sweep a weekend series with the U of Saskatchewan Huskies.

    With the two sides locked in a 2-2 tie, Pandas star forward Autumn MacDougall scored her second of the night and the winner with 4:28 to play in the third to deliver U of A to a 3-2 victory on Saturday.

    The win allowed the Pandas to sweep a weekend series with the Huskies at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Alta. U of A took the first contest of the two-game set 2-1 on Friday night.

    In Saturday’s back-and-forth affair, Abby Shirley scored for the Huskies to give them a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

    The Pandas battled back in the second going ahead 2-1 with Alex Poznikoff and MacDougall scoring for the host side.

    The Huskies evened things up at 2-2 before the second ended with Bailee Bourassa netting her eighth goal of the campaign.

    That set the stage for MacDougall to come through with the winner in the third to give the Pandas a seventh straight win.

    Camryn Drever made 17 stops to take the setback in goal for the Huskies (9-6-2-1). Kirsten Chamberlin turned away 24 shots to pick up the win in net for the Pandas (12-6).

    The Huskies return to action this coming Friday, when they host the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns (7-8-1-2) at 7 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place.

Raiders struggles continue, Ice for real

Brayden Watts scored for the Raiders on Saturday.

    As the Prince Albert Raiders continue to struggle, it looks like first place in the WHL’s East Division might become the domain for the surging Winnipeg Ice.

    On Saturday playing before 1,621 spectators at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg, Man., the Ice jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Raiders thanks to a pair of goals coming from the stick of Owen Pederson.

    The Raiders, who are the defending WHL champions, pushed back, and the two sides entered the second intermission locked in a 3-3 tie.

    The host Ice scored three times in the third to seal a 6-3 victory in the WHL regular season clash.

    With the win, the Ice, who have won five straight, improve to 24-13-1 to remain first in the WHL’s East Division four points ahead of the Raiders, who fell to 20-14-4-1. The Ice have a game in hand on the Raiders.

    Prince Albert has gone winless in eight straight games dropping seven contests in regulation and one game in extra time.

    Ilya Ursu, Brayden Watts and Kaiden Guhle netted singles for the Raiders.

    Jackson Leppard scored twice for the Ice, while Connor McClennon and Isaac Johnson had singles. McClennon’s tally was his 20^th goal of the season.

    Boston Bilous turned away 19 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders. Liam Hughes stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in net for the Ice.

    The two sides will go at it again on Sunday in Winnipeg.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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