Huskies draw Mustangs in U Sports quarter-final

The Huskies aim to have big moments at the University Cup.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team will try to withstand the madness of March in their first game at the David Johnston University Cup.

    The Huskies enter the U Sports elite-eight national men’s hockey championship tournament seeded second having won the Canada West Conference title. They earned that seed posting a 22-4-2 record in the regular season and going 4-0 in the post-season.

    Between the regular season and playoffs, the Huskies have won 15 straight games.

    They will be heavy favourites when they open the University Cup on Thursday in Halifax, N.S., against the seventh-seeded University of Western Ontario Mustangs.

    The Mustangs finished eighth in the Ontario University Athletics West conference with an 11-13-4 record. In the post-season, the Mustangs went on a Cinderella run upsetting the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, who finished first in the OUA West, and Ryerson University Rams, who finished second in the OUA West.

    Both of those best-of-three series went the distance.
    The Mustangs fell to the Guelph University Griffins in a best-of-three series in the OUA West final that went the distance. Western proceeded to down the Concordia University Stingers 5-2 in the OUA bronze medal game to earn a berth at nationals.

Taran Kozun was the Canada West player of the year.

    Of course, the University Cup is played in an elite-eight style one-and-done format due to the fact it increases the potential for upsets. It has become a staple for university sports in Canada and the United States because of the excitement and intrigue it creates.

    The Huskies enter the tournament with one of the most well-rounded lineups they have ever had.

    Rookie centre Jared Dmytriw topped the Huskies in scoring collecting 10 goals and 18 assists appearing in all of his team’s 28 regular season games. Dmytriw was named the Canada West rookie of the year.

    Fourth-year right-winger Carson Stadnyk topped the Huskies with 13 goals in the regular season to go along with eight assists appearing in all 28 of his team’s regular season games.

    Third-year left-winger Collin Shirley finished second in Huskies team scoring with nine goals and 17 assists appearing in all 28 of his team’s regular season games.

    Sophomore Gordie Ballhorn topped all Huskies defenceman in regular season scoring with four goals and 15 assists appearing in 24 regular season games.

    Shirley and Ballhorn were both named second team Canada West all-stars.
    Fifth-year right-winger Levi Cable is the Huskies ironman having played in 175 straight games including action in the U Sports regular season and post-season. Cable, who has never missed a game in his U Sports career, finished third in Huskies team regular season scoring with 10 goals and 14 assists.

Collin Shirley was a second team Canada West all-star.

    Cable won the Canada West sportsmanship and ability award this season.
    Star third-year netminder Taran Kozun played in 22 regular season games posting a 17-3-2 record, a 1.87 goals against average, a .931 save percentage and five shutouts. Kozun was named the Canada West player of the year, Canada West goaltender of the year and a first team Canada West all-star.

    Rookie centre Franco Sproviero topped the Mustangs in scoring netting 15 goals and 19 assists in 24 regular season games.

    Third-year defenceman Stephan Desrocher led all Mustangs blue-liners in scoring with seven goals and eight assists appearing in 28 regular season games.

    The Mustangs roster contains a couple of players WHL followers from mid to northern Saskatchewan will be familiar with.

    Sean Montgomery, who was a career centre with the Prince Albert Raiders over five WHL seasons, skated in his rookie season with the Mustangs moving to defence. He had nine goals and five assists appearing in 24 regular season games.

    Third-year Mustangs forward Kolten Olynek had stints in the WHL with both the Raiders and the Saskatoon Blades. He posted nine goals and eight assists playing in 27 regular season games with the Mustangs.

    In goal, the Mustangs have turned to fourth year veteran in Luke Peressini. Peressini posted a 6-10-4 record, a 3.83 goals against average and a .893 save percentage.

    While the Huskies will be favourites in their quarter-final match, the defending U Sports national champion University of New Brunswick Reds will be the favourites to win the tournament.

Jared Dmytriw was the Canada West rookie of the year.

    The Reds are the number one seed at the University Cup having posted a 26-4 regular season record and going 5-1 in the post-season to win the Atlantic University Sport conference championship.

    The Reds open their tournament schedule on Friday, when they face the eight-seeded University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a quarter-final contest.

    The Thunderbirds posted a 9-15-4-1 record in the Canada West regular season and advanced to the Canada West championship series before falling to the Huskies 2-0 in a best-of-three series.

    The semifinal matches for the University Cup are set for Saturday. The bronze and gold medal matches will be held on Sunday.

Dates set for Bears, Stars playoff series

Goalie Janae Neufeld, centre, tracks an incoming shot for the Bears.

    The Prince Albert Northern Bears and the Saskatoon Stars are set to renew their rivalry meeting for the fourth time in the last six years in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs.

    The dates for the best-of-three SFMAAAHL quarter-final series between the two clubs has been set. Game 1 is slated for Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

    The Stars will host Game 2 on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon. If necessary, Game 3 will be held on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The Bears finished fourth in the SFMAAAHL regular season standings with a 15-13-2 record and the Stars placed fifth with a 12-14-4 mark.

    Prince Albert won all five head-to-head meetings in the regular season against Saskatoon.

    The Bears will host the Esso Cup female midget AAA national championship tournament from April 19 to 25.

Emily Holmes works the puck in the offensive zone for the Stars.

    Paris Oleksyn topped the Bears in scoring with 15 goals and 11 assists appearing in 28 regular season games.

    McKenzie Mayo and Kailee Peppler tied for posting the most points by Bears defenders at 13. Mayo had her 13 points on six goals and seven assists, and Peppler had her 13 points on two goals and 11 assists.

    In goal, Janae Neufeld had a solid year for the Bears posting an 8-6-1 record, a 2.39 goals against average, a .904 save percentage and two shutouts.

    The Stars were led in scoring by 16-year-old rookie forward Sydney Mercier, who collected nine goals and 10 assists appearing in all of the Stars 30 regular season games.

    Veteran 17-year-old defender Emily Holmes topped the Stars in scoring on the back end collecting six goals and five assists in 22 regular season games.

    In goal, the Stars will be backed by four-year veteran Arden Kliewer, who posted a 6-10-1 record, a 2.78 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and one shutout.

    The Stars won the SFMAAAHL title four times in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019, but their current roster experienced a sizable turnover from the end of last season going into the current campaign.

    The Bears won the SFMAAAHL title twice in 2009 and 2017. Only captain Brooklyn Anderson and forward Jasper Desmarais remain from the Bears title winning team in 2017.

    The Stars claimed SFMAAAHL title series wins against the Bears in 2015 and 2018. The Bears took the 2017 SFMAAAHL championship series against the Stars.

“Habby” enjoyed interviewing “Rids”

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid enjoyed interviewing Bob Ridley.

    Marc Habscheid’s defending WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders are holding down first place in the East Division, but one of the highlights for the long time veteran head coach came off the ice.

    Last Nov. 23 before the Raiders played in Medicine Hat against the host Tigers, Habscheid interviewed iconic Tigers play-by-play voice Bob Ridley during the morning skates. Ridley was going around recording segments for that night’s game broadcast, and Habscheid, who has the seventh most career regular season head coaching wins in the WHL at 545, decided for once if he could ask Ridley about interviewing him.

    Habscheid, whose Raiders have a 36-18-6-4 record, was pumped Ridley went along with it.

    “Loved it,” said Habscheid. “He is my favourite.

    “We’re going to go on a bike trip this summer him and I. He is a great man he really is. I have a lot of respect for him.
    “I love the man. He has seen a lot of hockey. He has a wealth of experience, a wealth of knowledge, but the best part about him is he is a gentleman and an awesome guy.”

Bob Ridley is closing in on calling his 4,000th game.

    Ridley is nearing a milestone that might never been seen again in hockey. On Tuesday, Ridley called his 3,998^th game as the Tigers play-by-play voice as the Medicine Hat side downed the visiting Red Deer Rebels 4-3 in overtime in “The Gas City.”

    The Tigers improved to 41-19-2-1 with the win.

    No one has called more games as the play-by-play voice of one hockey team as Ridley has, and he is closing in on his 4,000^th game.

    Ridley will call his 3,999^th contest on Friday, when the Tigers travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos. His 4,000 call will happen on Saturday, when the Tigers host the Broncos at 7:30 p.m. local time at the Canalta Centre.

    The Tigers are playing in their 50^th season, and Ridley has been the club’s only play-by-play voice.

Blades blank Warriors for third straight win

Koen MacInnes earned his third shutout of the season on Tuesday.

    The Saskatoon Blades proved to be too much for the Moose Jaw Warriors to handle.

    On Tuesday playing before 2,608 spectators at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw, the Blades blanked the host Warriors 6-0 holding a 47-19 edge in shots on goal. The win was the third straight for the Blades who improved to 34-24-2-3.

    Alex Morozoff scored twice for the Blades, who received singles from Kyle Crnkovic, Tristen Robins, Chase Wouters and Riley McKay. Crnkovic was stopped on a late third period penalty shot.

    Rookie netminder Koen MacInnes made 19 saves for his third shutout of the season.

    Boston Bilous started in goal for the Warriors turning away 23-of-28 shots he faced and was pulled after the Blades went up 5-0 in the second period. Brock Gould stopped 18-of-19 shots playing the rest of the way in relief.

Tristen Robins had a goal for the Blades on Tuesday.

    Besides the game, the Blades announced on Monday they raised $9,710.51 from their Hockey Night in Canada jersey auction of the special jerseys the team wore Friday in a 2-1 overtime victory over the Regina Pats. The game on Friday was the Blades Suits Up game and all the proceeds will be donated to Saskatoon’s Kidney Foundation Branch.

    The Blades return to action this coming Friday, when they travel to Winnipeg to take on the Ice.

    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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