Mustangs upset Huskies, COVID-19 scare ends both U Sports hockey nationals

Carson Stadnyk scored for the Huskies on Thursday.

    It was an upset that should have been the story of the day at the David Johnston University Cup.

    By the time Thursday came to the end, the upset was a footnote in the day’s events.

    The University Cup opened on Thursday in Halifax, N.S., with the seventh seeded University of Western Ontario Mustangs downing the second seeded University of Saskatchewan Huskies 3-2 in a quarter-final match. After the opening day’s action came to a conclusion, U Sports cancelled the rest of its elite-eight men’s national hockey championship due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    Late in the day Thursday, Hockey Canada announced it was cancelling all its sanctioned activities including national championships affective Friday due to the outbreak of coronavirus. Due to this announcement, U Sports called off its men’s national championship tournament and the U Sports women’s elite eight national championship tournament, which was being held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

    Both events were slated to hold their bronze and gold medal matches on Sunday.

    A national champion in U Sports men’s hockey won’t be crowned for the first time in 58 years, and a national champion in U Sports women’s hockey won’t be crowned for the first time in 22 years.

    That means the David Johnston University Cup and the Golden Path Trophy will be unclaimed this season.

Sam Ruopp had a goal for the Huskies on Thursday.

    The encounter between the Mustangs and Huskies was a battle, and due to the fact it was played early Thursday afternoon, everyone believed the winner would get to play in a semifinal contest on Saturday.

    Defenceman Reed Morison game the Mustangs a 1-0 lead scoring on the power play with 2:51 remaining in the first period.

    Huskies fourth-year right winger Carson Stadnyk evened the score at 1-1 scoring at the 5:37 mark of the second period.

    Before the second period ended, the Mustangs jumped ahead 3-1 with a short-handed marker from centre Cordell James and an even-strength marker from defenceman Stephen Desrocher.

    Sean Montgomery, who was a career five-season member of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, picked up assists on the Mustangs first and third goals.

    The Huskies didn’t go quietly. Third-year defender Sam Ruopp scored with 43 seconds remaining in the third period to cut the Mustangs lead to 3-2.

    U of S was unable to find the equalizer in the time that remained.

    Luke Peresinni made 26 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Mustangs. Taran Kozun, who was named the U Sports player of the year and goaltender of the year on Wednesday, turned away 22 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies.

    Ironman Levi Cable was scratched from Thursday’s game with an undisclosed ailment that brought his consecutive games streak to an end at 175 contests for the Huskies including action in the U Sports regular season and post-season.

Kohl Bauml played his final game for the Huskies on Thursday.

    Thursday’s events brought an end to the U Sports careers of four forwards in their fifth-years with the Huskies in Cable, Kohl Bauml, Andrew Johnson and Logan McVeigh.

    Dave Adolph guided the Huskies into the University Cup for the 16^th time, and a national title has eluded the U of S side in each visit. Even had the Huskies won, fate would have ultimately prevented a championship win with the coronavirus scare.

    The Huskies posted a 22-4-2 record in the regular season to finish second in the Canada West Conference and went 4-0 in the Canada West playoffs to win the conference title.

    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 made 22 saves in goal for the Huskies on Thursday.

    Following the clash with the Mustangs and Huskies, the third seeded Saint Mary’s University Huskies upset the Guelph University Griffins 5-1 in another quarter-final encounter.

    At the women’s nationals in Charlottetown, the seventh seeded Mount Royal University Cougars upset the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 2-1 in overtime in the first quarter-final. The second quarter-final saw the third seeded Saint Francis Xavier University X-Women slip past the University of Montreal Carabins 3-2 in overtime.
    In the end, all teams had their hearts broken as both U Sports hockey nationals were called off. It was an unprecedented end coming out of an unprecedented time in history as the world reacts to the coronavirus pandemic.

Contacts fall in last meaningful hockey game in Saskatoon

Riley Girod, right, jets up ice for the Contacts.

    It was a game where the celebrations were muted.

    On Thursday at Merlis Belsher Place, the Moose Jaw Warriors took on the Saskatoon Contacts in Game 3 of a Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League semifinal series. The Warriors led the best-of-five series 2-0 and were looking for the sweep.

    Late in the evening Thursday, Hockey Canada put out a release saying it was cancelling all its sanctioned events including national championships effective on Friday due to coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    Both teams were told before they took the ice that this would be the final game of their respective seasons.

    The Warriors won 5-3 to sweep the series 3-0.

    Alex Bernauer gave the Contacts a 1-0 lead scoring 61 seconds into the contest.

    Atley Calvert netted the equalizer for the Warriors just 3:36 later, and Warriors forward Ben Wourms-Rowe scored twice to give the visitors a 3-1 edge heading into the first intermission.

    With 2:25 remaining in the second, the Contacts cut the gap to 3-2 with a goal from forward Riley Girod.

    The Warriors extended their edge to 5-2 in the third with power-play goals coming from the sticks of Ethan Peters and Maximus Wanner.

    Contacts rookie forward Tye Spencer rounded out the game’s scoring netting a buzzer beater with 0.1 seconds remaining on the third period clock.

The Warriors and Contacts do fist bumps in the traditional handshake line.

    Chase Hamm made 39 saves to take the setback in goal for the Contacts. Dylan Ernst turned away 41 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors.

    The two sides took part in the handshake line giving fist bumps with their gloves on. The Contacts finished third in the SMAAAHL regular season standings with a 30-12-2 record, while the Warriors were fourth with a 30-13-0-1 record.

    While the Warriors technically advanced to the SMAAAHL championship series, there wasn’t much celebrating due to the fact they won’t play another series.

    At game’s end, it seemed both side were still processing the finality.

    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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