A unique championship night you wish could last forever

Huskies first Canada West title at Merlis a lasting memory

Collin Shirley (#11) and family celebrate a Canada West title win.

Had anyone known how the world was going to change in the three proceeding weeks, maybe the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team and their supporters would have soaked in the Canada West title win a little longer?

Likely, that goes down as 20-20 vision thinking.

On February 29, 2020, the Huskies downed the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 3-1 in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series to sweet the best-of-three set 2-0. The series clinching game was played before a standing room record crowd of 2,667 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place.

The Huskies pour off their bench after their Canada West title win.

The best place to be was on the ice surface with the Huskies family and friends following the win, which was the first conference title the team won since moving to Merlis before the start of the 2018-19 campaign. Laughter and jokes filled the air and smiles could be seen all over the place.

People were racing to get photos taken by mobile phone cameras posted on their social media accounts most notably on Instagram. A lot of the pictures included the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy and the Canada West championship banner.

The Huskies raise the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy.

A lot of other photos were pictures filled with all sorts of combinations of Huskies players, Huskies coaches, Huskies staff members, family members and friends.

It was as joyful a Saturday night as anyone could have asked for. Looking back on that night, everyone who had a link with the Huskies soaked in and enjoyed that night like they should have.

No one knew how the world would change.

After a full week of practices at home, the Huskies departed for Halifax, N.S., for the David Johnston University Cup, which is the U Sports men’s hockey national championship tournament.

Tanner Lishchynsky takes the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy for a spin.

On the U Sports awards night on March 11, 2020, Huskies netminder Taran Kozun was named the recipient of the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy as the U Sports player of the year, and he took honours as the U Sports goaltender of the year.

Huskies fifth-year right-winger Levi Cable captured the R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award as the most sportsmanlike player in U Sports. Huskies centre Jared Dmytriw was named to the U Sports all-rookie team.

Before the awards night took place, talk of a coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was starting to filter into conversations. Teams at the David Johnston University Cup were told there would be no post-game handshakes during the tournament and players to use their own personal water bottle during practices and games.

Jeff Faith, left, and Evan Fiala ham it up.

On March 12, 2020, the Huskies got to play their quarter-final game falling 3-2 to the University of Western Ontario Mustangs. The Huskies were missing a number of players including Cable as a flu bug worked through the team.

 At the end of the night, word came down that the rest of the U Sports men’s hockey championship has been cancelled due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. In other locations, the remainder of the U Sports women’s hockey national championship tournament and the U Sports men’s and women’s volleyball national championship tournaments were also cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic fears.

On March 13, 2020, a large number of sports governing bodies in Canada had halted sanctioning of events including Hockey Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a crazy twist, pretty much all of the Huskies who were battled the flu recovered by the morning of March 13, 2020. Due to the fact they couldn’t return to Saskatoon until taking their scheduled return flights after the tournament was supposed to end on March 15, 2020, the Huskies players, coaches, staff and families took in some site seeing before journeying back west.

Levi Cable was the most sportsmanlike player in U Sports.

At the moment, the Huskies still haven’t returned to the ice for any games since that Canada West title clinching win over the Thunderbirds and that quarter-final U Sports tournament loss to the Mustangs.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip the world, all U Sports nationals for the 2020-21 campaign were cancelled and all regular season play for the Canada West Conference in 2020-21 was cancelled. Ultimately, all four conferences that play under the U Sports umbrella cancelled their 2020-21 campaigns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For almost a year now, the world has experienced various levels of restrictions brought on to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Merlis Belsher Place has been turned into a COVID-19 field hospital in waiting. The processing of some COVID-19 tests and COVID-19 vaccinations take place there now.

Jared Dmytriw made the U Sports all-rookie team.

The developments in the world make those that were at Merlis Belsher Place on February 29, 2020 look even more fondly back on that day. On that day and night, no one was really even thinking about a COVID-19 pandemic.

That day and night played out like most championships winning game days would.

During the 2019-20 campaign, the Huskies men’s hockey team had a season where it seemed the intangibles all fell into place.

The Huskies actually stumbled out of the gates going 0-3-1 over their first four regular season games in 2019-20. They roared back to finish second in the Canada West Conference with a 22-4-2 record.

U of S ended up hosting the Canada West Championship series after the first place University of Alberta Golden Bears, who were 23-5 in the regular season, were upset in their Canada West semifinal series by the Thunderbirds, who were fifth in Canada West with a 9-14-5 regular season record.

Taran Kozun was the U Sports player of the year.

With Merlis being the site of the Canada West Championship series, the Huskies faithful came out in droves. The Huskies slipped past the Thunderbirds 3-2 in Game 1 of the series on February 28, 2020 playing in front of 2,281 spectators.

That set the stage for the record gathering of 2,667 spectators in the Huskies series clinching win in Game 2 on February 29, 2020.

The Huskies came out flying in Game 2 going ahead 2-0 after 20 minutes on goals from Carson Stadnyk and Cable. Cable, who was playing in his 175^th consecutive game for the Huskies including action in the U Sports regular season and post-season, netted his second of the contest with 2:37 remaining the second period, while U of S was working on the power play.

Carson Stadnyk came through with key goals.

The hosts took that 3-0 lead into the second intermission holding a 23-13 edge in shots on goal.

Thunderbirds left-winger Jake Kryski scored to put the visitors on the board with a power-play goal with 3:16 remaining in the third to round out the 3-1 final in favour of the Huskies.

Kozun made 17 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies. Saskatoon product Rylan Toth turned away 26 shots to take the setback in goal for the Thunderbirds.

Pandemonium filled the ice after time expired on the third period clock.

One of the most heartwarming scenes from the post-game celebration was when legendary Huskies head coach Dave Adolph gave his gold medal to Ben Bauml, who is the younger brother of Huskies fifth-year centre Kohl.

Ben, who has Down syndrome and is non-verbal, has been Kohl’s biggest fan throughout Kohl’s hockey career. The brothers have a tight bond.

Huskies fans cheer after their team scores a goal.

Ben attended all of the Huskies home games and became a big part of the team’s culture. He joined the Huskies in the dressing room for post-victory celebrations, and he was in the front row for the on-ice team picture after the Canada West title game victory.

Adolph wanted to make the night a little extra special for Ben with the gift of the Canada West gold medal.

No one knew at the time that would ultimately be Adolph’s last victory behind the bench as Huskies head coach. He announced on December 7, 2020 that he would be retiring.

Adolph’s retirement becomes official this coming May 1. All-world hockey bench boss, Mike Babcock will be coming home to Saskatoon to take over as the Huskies head coach for the next two seasons.

Looking back, all those linked with the Huskies wished those celebrations on the night of February 29, 2020 could have gone on a little longer.

The Huskies pose for a team photo after a Canada West title win.

With how the world changed following that night, the Huskies first Canada West title win at Merlis is treasured that much more.

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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Fun with photos with the ancient Rutherford Rink

Logan McVeigh celebrates scoring in the 2016 Canada West final.

The Rutherford Rink was the place its inhabitants loved to hate and also hated to love.

The old home of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s and women’s hockey teams was a vastly out of date facility that needed to be replaced for at least the final 30 years of the close to 89 years it was in operation.

It made the Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was also known as “the Crushed Can,” look like the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

The ancient Rutherford Rink invented the terms “rust break” and “rust delay.”

Those delays happened when a puck was fired into the rook of the facility causing rust to rain down from the corroded support beams on to the ice surface. The Huskies trainers would leap on to the ice to clean up the mess in record time to allow games to proceed.

The building had a seemingly endless list of surprises. In September of 2014, water shot out from a goalpost hole where the net sat on the south end of the rink.

The Huskies had to adjust training until that little surprise was fixed.

Still, the ancient and cramped facility produced lots of memories. Being contained in such close quarters, everyone inside the rink from players, coaches, staffers and maintenance personnel got to know each other real well.

The Huskies also had lots of memorable moment on the Ruthy’s sheet of ice. One of those is the lead picture of centre Logan McVeigh celebrating his goal in Game 2 of the 2016 Canada West Championship series against the Huskies “Forever Rivals” the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

McVeigh’s third period goal gave the Huskies a 2-1 edge in the game, which they would win 3-2 to sweep the best-of-three series 2-0. The Huskies were playing that season to honour the memory of the team’s gritty, glue-guy forward in Cody Smuk, who passed away from cancer in June of 2015 at age 26.

Having moved to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014, I only got to see a small portion of the Rutherford’s history. It opened in late 1929, and the official grand opening was held on January 23, 1930 with a men’s hockey game between the Huskies and the University of Manitoba Bisons.

The 2017-18 campaign was its last full season. The Huskies men’s team closed it out with one last U Sports exhibition game on September 23, 2018, when they downed the York University Lions 5-2.

The Huskies proceeded to move to Merlis Belsher Place for two seasons, before Merlis was converted into a field hospital in waiting to help with the battled against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

The Ruthy sits empty with a significant amount of decommission work carried out on the inside of the building.

The Rutherford Rink was a dump, but for those who got to inhabit it, it was affectionately our dump.

Without further ado, here are some photos I shot at the Rutherford Rink from 2014 to 2018.

Smuk’s night in January of 2015

On January 30, 2015, the 85^th birthday of the Rutherford Rink was held but the star of the night was Huskies men’s hockey team gritty, glue-guy forward Cody Smuk.

Smuk, who was fully engaged with a battle with cancer that would take his life in late June of 2015, was honoured before the Huskies men’s hockey game against their “Forever Rivals” the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

Smuk dropped the puck for the ceremonial faceoff and all the member of both the Golden Bears and Huskies came over to shake his hand before the game.

“Willo” drives home her hatty

Huskies women’s hockey team star winger/centre Kaitlin Willoughby drives home her hat trick goal on February 17, 2017 to power her side past the University of Regina Cougars 4-3 in Game 1 of a Canada West quarter-final series.

I could have made an album of just Willoughby’s moments alone at the Rutherford Rink.

#24 shines brightly on the Huskies

Huskies men’s hockey team forward Carson Stadnyk celebrates scoring with 24 seconds remaining in the third period of a series deciding Game 3 of a Canada West semifinal series on February 24, 2018 against the University of Calgary Dinos.

The goal gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead. They added an empty-net goal in the 3-1 win. Of course, #24 was the number worn by late Huskies men’s hockey team gritty glue-guy forward Cody Smuk.

Stadnyk’s goal was the last playoff series winner scored at the Rutherford Rink.

Cable slides home Canada West title winner

Huskies men’s hockey team right-winger Levi Cable slides home what would be the winning goal of the 2016 Canada West Championship series in the third period on March 5, 2016.

The Huskies swept the best-of-three series against their “Forever Rivals” the University of Alberta Golden Bears 2-0 with a 3-2 victory in Game 2 of the set where Cable scored his series winner.

“Rust break” for referees

The officials clear up “rust break” or “rust delay” during a Huskies women’s hockey game in the 2015-16 season.

I could do a whole picture post on “rust breaks” from the Rutherford Rink.

Regular “rust break” clean up

In this photo, the trainers for the Huskies men’s hockey team show off a regular clean up for a “rust break” or “rust delay” during the 2016-17 campaign.

Spafford’s goal celebration with Alm

Huskies men’s hockey team forward Matthew Spafford celebrates scoring a goal with Huskies ardent supporter Rod Alm celebrating on the other side of the glass in a game on January 15, 2016.

In the picture, it appears the two are about to high-five each other.

Stars’ Parker fired up over post-season goal

Saskatoon Stars captain Mackenna Parker (#11) is all fired after scoring for the Saskatoon Stars in Game 1 of the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League championship series on March 23, 2018.

The Stars, who played a handful of games at the Rutherford Rink in their history, downed the Prince Albert Northern Bears 5-3 on this night.

Huskies women’s team takes 2014 Canada West title

The Huskies women’s hockey team celebrates winning their first Canada West Championship with a team photo here on March 2, 2014.

Cook drives to the goal

Huskies women’s hockey team “Mighty Mouse” centre Kandace Cook, who stands 5-foot-2, wouldn’t be denied driving to the goal for a scoring chance against an army of University of Regina Cougars players.

Faithful cheer on the Huskies

A sellout crowd cheers a goal by the Huskies men’s hockey team in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series on March 5, 2016.

Roommate joy

Huskies women’s hockey team “Mighty Mouse” centre Kandace Cook celebrates a goal with netminder Cassidy Hendricks on January 17, 2015.

The two were roommates during the 2014-15 campaign.

Herner goes super fan

Huskies women’s hockey team forward Kori Herner goes super fan cheering on the Huskies men’s team in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series on March 5, 2016.

Wrap up of another game day

Rutherford Rink maintenance staffer Calvin Rempel floods the ice at the end of the night after a playoff win by the Huskies men’s hockey team on February 25, 2017.

Smith celebrates Canada West semi series winner

Huskies women’s hockey team centre Chloe Smith, centre, celebrates scoring what would be the winning goal of the Canada West semifinal series on February 24, 2018.

Smith’s tally allowed the Huskies to pick up a 2-1 victory over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Game 2 of the series and sweep the best-of-three set 2-0. Her goal was that last women’s playoff series winner at Rutherford.

Broken glass delay

Another Rutherford Rink surprise saw a pane of glass break during a Huskies men’s playoff game on February 23, 2018.

All hands were on deck to fix the glass. Huskies women’s hockey team equipment manager Dave Westbury and long time Huskies men’s hockey team equipment manager Peter Herd are in the middle of the action fixing the glass.

On a side note, the replacement pane of glass had a sticker on it that said the glass pane was made in 1989.

The sweetest of title sweeps

The Huskies men’s hockey team celebrates winning the Canada West Championship with a team photo on March 5, 2016.

The Huskies were playing to honour the memory of gritty, glue-guy forward Cody Smuk, who passed away from cancer at age 26 in June of 2015. Members of Smuk’s family were part of the team picture including his father, Marty, mother, Darla, and fiancée Stephanie Vause.

Yours truly with McVeigh

To close the photo fun from the Rutherford Rink, a picture of myself with Huskies men’s hockey team centre Logan McVeigh during the celebrations of winning the Canada West Championship on March 5, 2016.

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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If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

“Ironman” delivers, Huskies regain Canada West crown

The Huskies raise the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy as Canada West champs.

    The “Ironman” came up clutch for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.

    Fifth-year right-winger Levi Cable fired home a pair of power-play goals to give the Huskies a 3-1 victory over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series before a record crowd of 2,667 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place on Saturday.

    With the win, the Huskies swept the best-of-three series 2-0. They captured their first Canada West title since 2016 and 18^th conference title in team history, with 11 of those wins coming in the conference’s modern era that started in 1972.

Levi Cable scored twice for the Huskies on Saturday.

    “It was big,” said Cable. “Going into this year that is all we wanted.

    “This was our goal. I’m glad we have another one coming up, but this one was a stop on the way. I’m glad we got it.”

    After raising the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy as Canada West champions, the next one coming up that Cable refers to is of course the U Sports men’s hockey nationals.

    Both the Huskies and Thunderbirds are guaranteed berths to the David Johnston University Cup, which is the U Sports men’s hockey national championship tournament. The U Sports national championship tournament is played in an elite-eight format, and it runs from March 12 to 15 in Halifax, N.S.

    In the series clinching win over the Thunderbirds, Cable played in his 175^th consecutive game for the Huskies including action in the U Sports regular season and post-season. He has never missed game in his career with the Huskies.

Levi Cable celebrates his first of two goals on Saturday.

    The 25-year-old’s streak includes 140 regular season games, 23 contests in the Canada West playoffs and 12 games at the David Johnston University Cup.

    Besides skating in a milestone contest in his streak, Cable was pumped to exit his final home U Sports game with a win in front of a loud and appreciative crowd, which included a raucous student section. The Huskies have been playing out of Merlis since the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

    “This was the loudest I have heard this place,” said Cable. “The student section was really going.

    “It was a lot of fun to play in front of. I’m glad my last game here was in front of these guys.”

    The Huskies drew first blood at the 7:33 mark of the opening frame when right-winger Carson Stadnyk popped home the rebound from his own shot after receiving a pass from Jared Dmytriw.

Part of the record crowd at Merlis reacts to a Huskies goal.

    The host side expanded their edge to 2-0 about five minutes later when Cable popped home a power-play goal from the left side of the Thunderbirds net. Cable benefitted from a little luck as he received a backdoor pass from Stadnyk that was ticked off the stick of left-winger Collin Shirley.

    The Huskies could have exited the first period with a bigger advantage had it not been for a number of stellar saves from Thunderbirds star netminder Rylan Toth, who made 13 stops in the opening 20 minutes.

    Huskies star goalie Taran Kozun, who was named both the Canada West player of the year and goaltender of the year, gave huge props to his counterpart in Toth.

Carson Stadnyk scored the Huskies first goal.

    “He (Toth) played one heck of series,” said Kozun. “I have to give him credit.

    “If he does that at nationals, he is going to give the other teams there lots of troubles. It is a big battle (going head-to-head with Toth), and it is fun coming out on the winning side.”

    In the final 10 minutes of the second, the Thunderbirds started to melt down taking 28 minutes in penalties in that span of time including two misconducts 10 minutes in length.

    The Huskies looked to have gone ahead 3-0 with 3:31 to play in the second on goal from rookie forward Jeff Faith, but that goal was disallowed due to incidental contact on the netminder as a player was pushed into Toth.

    The Thunderbirds had to argue to get the goal disallowed. The argument included someone from the Thunderbirds bench throwing a water bottle on to the ice.

    While Faith’s goal was disallowed, the Thunderbirds team bench was given a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Rylan Toth jumps on a loose puck for the Thunderbirds.

    On that power-play opportunity, Cable netted his second goal of the contest firing home the rebound of a shot taken from Huskies defenceman Gordie Ballhorn with 2:37 remaining in the second stanza.

    “The emotions of the game sometimes they get the better of you, and sometimes it doesn’t,” said Kozun. “It has happened to us in the past, where the emotions take over.

    “It was nice to see us not on that side this time.”

    As the game went along, Kozun said the home crowd gave his side an edge.

    “Winning it today in front of all these fans, it is surreal,” said Kozun. “It is going to be a fun night, and I hope the boys enjoy it.”

The Huskies bench reacts to winning the Canada West title.

    The Thunderbirds finally got on the scoreboard with 3:16 remaining in the third period thanks to a power-play marker coming from the stick of left-winger Jake Kryski. While that tally cut the Huskies lead to 3-1, it was too little too late for the visitors.

    Kozun made 17 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies. Toth turned away 26 shots to take the setback in net for the Thunderbirds.

    Huskies head coach Dave Adolph was pleased his team’s four players in their fifth-years of eligibility in Cable, Kohl Bauml, Andrew Johnson and Logan McVeigh were able to win on conference title in their final home game.

The student section reacts to the Huskies Canada West title win.

    “Andrew Johnson, Logan McVeigh, Kohl Bauml and Levi (Cable), they have had five special years,” said Adolph. “These kids have gone to the Canada West final all five years they’ve played.

    “They’ve had dynamic goals each and every year I think with the exception of maybe A.J. He has been more of a penalty killer the last two years. He was on the forefront when he first started.

    “You live and die with your seniors, and I don’t care what sport it is. Ours have been good.”

    Adolph said it doesn’t come as a surprise that Cable, Bauml, Johnson and McVeigh were members of the last Huskies team to win a Canada West title at the squad’s former long time home in the ancient Rutherford Rink and are members of the first Huskies team to win a conference title in the squad’s new home in Merlis.

Merlis Belsher, second from left, presents the championship trophy.

    “That is just the character of those kids,” said Adolph. “They’ve been good since they’ve been here in everything.

    “They’re outstanding students. They are what Huskies should be, really they are.”

    The Huskies entered the series with the Thunderbirds as decided favourites finishing second in the Canada West Conference with a 22-4-2 record and being rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings. U of S has won 15 straight games including action in the regular season and playoffs.

    The Thunderbirds have enjoyed a Cinderella run to get to this point after finishing fifth in Canada West with a 9-14-4-1 mark. They cracked the U Sports Top 10 rankings this week at the ninth position.

Captain Tanner Lishchynsky takes a spin with the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy.

    While the Huskies were the favourites, they did stumble out of the gates to start the regular season posting an 0-3-1 record. Cable said he was impressed with how his Huskies have persevered through the tough stretches to put together a great season to date.

    “At the beginning of the year when we went 0-3-1, it was looking a little bit different than years previous,” said Cable. “I’m just glad the group came together, and we put together a good run to finish the season.”

    With that in mind, Cable said he doesn’t want the run of success to end here.

The Huskies celebrate winning the Canada West championship.

    “We still have a bigger goal in mind,” said Cable. “I would like to end my five years winning a national championship.”

    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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Young’s tip puts Huskies a win away from Canada West title

Layne Young, middle, celebrates his winning goal for the Huskies.

    Layne Young’s first career U Sports post-season goal ended up being a huge one for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.

    On Friday before a season high crowd of 2,281 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place, the sophomore left-winger tipped home a mid range shot from linemate Levi Cable to give the Huskies a 3-1 lead over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds at the 3:57 mark of the third period.

    The Thunderbirds cut the cap to 3-2 with a turnaround shot from sophomore left-winger Maxwell James right in front of the U of S net with 31.1 seconds to play in the third, but the visitors couldn’t find the equalizer.

    The Huskies held on to make the 3-2 score hold up as the final in Game 1 of the Canada West Championship series between the two teams. Young was pumped he could net the winner for his side.

    “It feels really good,” said Young. “It is an unbelievable feeling.

Layne Young has had a breakout season with the Huskies.

    “The atmosphere was great here tonight, so it was awesome. It was 3-1 at the time, but I guess just the way it worked out it ended up being the game winner.”

    Thanks to their victory in Game 1, the Huskies will try to close out the best-of-three set in Game 2 on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Merlis. If necessary, Game 3 is slated for Sunday at 7 p.m. at Merlis.

    After pulling to within 3-2, any further last second heroics by the Thunderbirds were stifled, when star netminder Rylan Toth was given a minor penalty for boarding inside of the final 20 seconds of the third.

    The Thunderbirds were starting out of their own zone on a rush shortly after the ensuing faceoff that resulted after cutting the Huskies edge to 3-2. Toth started skating out of his net for an extra attacker, when the puck was turned over to Cable along the right wing boards.

Layne Young is playing in lots of different situations for the Huskies.

    Toth, who is a Saskatoon product, was the closest Thunderbirds player to Cable and the puck stopper turned and nailed the fifth-year right-winger from behind into the boards. Toth was given a boarding penalty for his actions.

    Cable was playing in his 174th consecutive game for the Huskies including action in the U Sports regular season and post-season, and Young said Toth’s hit on the veteran provided some comic relief for the U of S side.

    “We were poking fun at Levi a little bit,” said Young. “It is not too often you get hit by a goalie, especially from behind, so it was kind of funny.

    “I was on the ice. I saw it. It was quite the thing that is for sure.

    “I had never seen that before.”

    During the opening 20 minutes of Friday’s game, Toth, who is in his third year with the Thunderbirds, was doing what he does best in keeping his squad in the game as the Huskies held a 14-2 edge in shots on goal over that span of time.

Jordan Tkatch, left, celebrates scoring the first goal for the Huskies.

    The Huskies took a 1-0 edge at the 7:38 mark of the opening frame when right-winger Jordan Tkatch tapped in a backdoor feed from centre Jared Dmytriw.

    As for Huskies star netminder Taran Kozun, he had to be extremely sharp on one of the two shots he faced in the opening frame. The Nipawin, Sask., product had to make a key stop on a tipped shot from James on a UBC power play.

    The Huskies expanded their edge to 2-0 at the 12:06 of the second period, when right-winger Carson Stadnyk tapped home a backdoor feed from centre Logan McVeigh on an offensive zone rush.

Rylan Toth was penalized for making a big hit for the Thunderbirds.

    With less than four minutes to play in the second, Thunderbirds rookie left-winger Jake Kryski snuck home a shot from the left side of the Huskies goal to cut the host side’s edge to 2-1.

    That set the stage for the dramatics in the third.

    While U of S had a strong start, Huskies head coach Dave Adolph thought his side had to ultimately gut out the win.

    “It wasn’t a Picasso, and it never usually is in the playoffs,” said Adolph, whose team was outshot 21-17 through the second and third periods. “I thought that once we got the lead we started playing tentative.

    “We started playing cautious. I think every team when you get to this point you are so worried about the next five minutes. You can’t think that way.

 

Levi Cable played in his 174th consecutive game for the Huskies.

  “We learned and we lived. We will be better tomorrow.”

    Adolph was pleased to see Young net the winner.

    “He (Young) is a really skilled player,” said Adolph. “It is good.

    “Some of our young guys the more times they get out there in these situations that is just going to help our program. Layne (Young) is going to be a goody.”

    Before joining the Huskies, Young was a star in the junior A ranks piling up 86 goals, 167 assists for 253 points in 169 regular season games playing with the Battlefords North Stars from 2014 to 2018. The Frenchman Butte, Sask., product was named the MVP of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in his final campaign with the North Stars in 2017-18 after posting 35 goals and 72 assists in 57 regular season games.

    Adolph was happy Young elected to join the Huskies enrolling Agriculture and Bioresources program at the U of S.

Carson Stadnyk had the Huskies second goal on Friday.

    “He (Young) had like four or five NCAA offers,” said Adolph. “He chose to go into agriculture, because that is what his family does.

    “He is a third generation dairy farmer and farmer. It is no different than (Huskies rookie forward) Justin Ball, who is going to be a star in our league too, when he gets his chance. Junior A guys don’t get overlooked.

    “Sometimes they chose an academic route rather than a hockey route.”

    After netting one goal in six regular season games as a rookie, Young recorded eight goals, 11 assists and a plus-10 rating in the plus minus department in 27 regular season games with the Huskies as a sophomore.

Jake Kryski had the Thunderbirds first goal on Friday.

    Throughout this season, Young has played on a line with Cable and fifth-year veteran Kohl Bauml at centre. Young, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 205 pounds, has enjoyed that opportunity.

    “It has been huge,” said Young. “We’ve been together since game one of this year, so our chemistry has just built all year.

    “It is has been awesome. They are great guys to play with, and it has just been great.”

    The 22-year-old said he would love to see the Huskies four fifth-year players in Bauml, Cable, McVeigh and Andrew Johnson graduate from the program hoisting championship trophies.

    “All four of our fifth years are just unbelievable people,” said Young. “I think they deserve a championship.”

    Kozun made 21 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies. Toth turned away 28 shots to take the setback in net for the Thunderbirds.

Jared Dmytriw set up the Huskies first goal on Friday.

    The Huskies entered the series as decided favourites finishing second in the Canada West Conference with a 22-4-2 record and being rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings. They have won 14 straight games including action in the regular season and playoffs.

    The Thunderbirds have enjoyed a Cinderella run to get to this point after finishing fifth in Canada West with a 9-14-4-1 mark. They cracked the U Sports Top 10 rankings this week at the ninth position.

    Both teams are guaranteed berths to the David Johnston University Cup, which is the U Sports men’s hockey national championship tournament. The U Sports national championship tournament is played in an elite-eight format. It runs from March 12 to 15 in Halifax, N.S.

The Huskies celebrate their victory in Game 1 of the Canada West final.

    Before looking forward to nationals, Young said he would like to see his team lock up the Canada West title series on Saturday.

    “I think the nerves might hit a little bit tomorrow,” said Young. “We just have to play our way, and I think we will be OK.”

    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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.