Huskies' Cooke closes out Cougars

Jordon Cooke deflects a shot away from the Huskies goal.

    Jordon Cooke’s toughness definitely matches his skills at stopping the puck.

    The sophomore netminder for the University of Saskatchewan men’s hockey team was stellar making 40 saves to back his club to a 4-2 victory over the Mount Royal University Cougars on Saturday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink. At times, it seemed like Cooke was trying to stop the Cougars players from going into the goal along with the puck.

    The graduate of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets was run over on about three or four occasions. The toughest hit Cooke took arguably came early in the third period, when he was bowled into by Cougars forward Tyler Fiddler.

    Despite all the physical play, Cooke never got flustered, and he was key in ensuring his squad improved to 13-3 remain first in the Canada West conference. The Cougars five-game winning streak came to an end in the process, as they fell to 9-5-2 to sit third in Canada West.

    In the first, it appeared the Huskies, who are rated first in Canadian Interuniversity Sport’s top ten rankings, wouldn’t need to rely on Cooke’s stellar play in goal to earn victory. The hosts rolled in the first period storming out to a 3-0 lead.

    Rookies Logan McVeigh and Kohl Bauml potted singles just over two minutes apart from each other. Sophomore Cameron Blair capped the surge with a fall one-timer on a nice set up pass from linemate Josh Roach.

    The Huskies outburst saw the Cougars, who are rated 10^th in the CIS top ten rankings, pull starting goaltender Colin Cooper after the opening 20 minutes. The rookie netminder stopped five of eight shots sent his way. Cam Lanigan played the rest of the way turning aside all 10 shots he faced in relief.

    From the start of the second, the Cougars started to drive to the U of Saskatchewan net hard, and they fired 33 shots at the Huskies goal over the final two frames.

Cougars forward Tyler Fiddler crashed into Huskies goalie Jordon Cooke.

    With that said, not all the contact around the Huskies net was result of the visitors’s decision to crash the crease. Close to the midway point of the second, Huskies defenceman Zak Stebner accidentally cross-checked Cougars forward Jamie King into Cooke during a hectic net scramble. Stebner was given a two-minute minor penalty over that action, and the Cougars capitalized with a power-play goal coming off the stick of Cam Maclise.

    The Cougars kept up the pressure and scored on another power play with 4:08 to play in the third, when sophomore Jamie King lifted a falling shot past Cooke to cut the host’s edge to 3-2.

Despite the pressure from the visitors, the Huskies sealed victory when Levi Cable score into an empty net with 1:28 to play in the frame.

    In his first full season as the team’s starting goalie, Cooke, who was the Canadian Hockey League’s goalie of the year in 2014, has been stellar posting an 11-3 record, a 2.56 goals against average, a .923 save percentage and one shutout. The Leduc, Alta., product always ensures the Huskies have a chance to earn victory, even when they are not at their best.

    With Saturday’s game in the books, the Huskies head into the semester break for final exams and the Christmas holidays. They resume their regular season schedule on Jan. 8 of the new year, when they travel to Lethbridge to take on the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (6-9-1).

Vets push Huskies women’s squad to victory

Kaitlin Willoughby had two points in Saturday's Huskies win.

    The veterans stepped up to ensure the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team headed into their semester break on a high.

    The forward unit of Marley Ervine, who is in her fifth year, Lauren Zary, who is in her fourth year, and Kaitlin Willoughby, who is in her third year, combined for five points as the Huskies slipped past the Mount Royal University Cougars 2-1 in Calgary on Saturday night. The Cougars were riding a four-game winning streak.

    Ervine scored on a power play 19 seconds into the second to give the Huskies a 1-0 edge. Rookie defender Leah Bohlken and Willoughby picked up assists on that tally. With under 30 seconds to play in the second, Willoughby put the Huskies up 2-0, and Ervine and Zary picked up assists on that marker.

    Kate Hufnagel scored on the power play with 5:17 to play in the third for the Cougars, but Huskies clamped things down defensively the rest of the way to close out the win.

    Cassidy Hendricks made 26 saves to pick up the victory in goal and boost her Huskies women’s team career record for regular season goaltending wins to 41. Jessica Ross made 22 stops to take the loss in the Cougars goal.

    With the win, the Huskies, who are rated seventh in the CIS top ten rankings, improve to 9-5-2 to sit fourth overall in the Canada West conference. The Cougars fall to 8-7-1 to sit in a tie for sixth and seventh overall in Canada West with the 8-7-1 University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

Cassidy Hendricks picked up her 41st regular season career win.

    Due to the fact three points are awarded for a win in regulation time in Canada West women’s play, the Huskies enter the semester break two points back of both the University of Alberta Pandas and University of Manitoba Bisons, who are tied for first and second overall with identical 9-6-1 records. The Huskies have 26 points coming of six regulation wins, three extra time wins and two extra time setbacks. All of the wins for the Pandas and Bisons have come in regulation.
    The Huskies are also only three points up on the Cougars and Pronghorns, who have 23 points coming off six regulation wins, two extra time wins and one extra time setback. Only the top six teams in the conference make playoffs.

    The Huskies resume their regular season schedule on Jan. 8 in the new year, when they host the Pronghorns at 7 p.m. at the Rutherford Rink.

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

Huskies fun to watch even in defeat

Huskies forward Andrew Johnson, left, tries to bat the puck into the goal.

    Even in defeat, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team gives you full value and more for the price of admission.

    Going into Friday, it was easy to find reasons to head out and watch the Huskies. They have jumped out to 12-2 start and are ranked first in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport top ten rankings.

    The rookie line of Andrew Johnson, Levi Cable and Kohl Bauml have been very exciting to watch. A whole host or rearguards including captain Kendall McFaull, Connor Cox, Jesse Forsberg, Jordan Fransoo and Zak Stebner have been rock solid on the back end and have provided big contributions on the power play.

    Sophomore Jordon Cooke has shown the form that saw him take home the Canadian Hockey League’s goalie of the year in 2014. Fifth year forward Matthew Spafford always hits the ice with an extremely high compete level, and you know you will see a strong and honest effort from him each and every night.

    With all that said, the best reason to see the Huskies in action comes from the fact they play in a strong CIS league, which has them based out of a solid Canada West conference. Most teams in the CIS and Canada West contain a high number of former top end players from the major junior ranks.

    All the players the Huskies face have all played hockey at an elite level for a lengthy time. All teams know how to make adjustments to counter the opposition, and players keep striving to be better and cut down on mistakes.

Huskies forward Levi Cable has been dangerous in the offensive zone.

    On Friday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink, the Huskies met the red hot Mount Royal University Cougars, who were riding a four-game winning streak. When Friday’s encounter wrapped up, the Cougars ran that winning streak up to five games pulling out a 5-3 victory.

    The Cougars are a classic example of the tough and experienced opponent the Huskies face game in and game out. Mount Royal entered the contest ranked 10^th in the CIS rankings and their roster contains talented players like forwards Tyler Fiddler and Cam Maclise, who can give opponents all sorts of headaches.

    Early in the first, the Cougars jumped out to a 2-0 lead after scoring twice in a span of 61 seconds. Bill Marshall and Fiddler accounted for the visitor’s tallies in the surge.

    While the Cougars got the jump on the scoreboard, the Huskies pushed back and rang a couple of shots off the posts of the Mount Royal goal before the first period expired.

    The Huskies continued to push in the second and were finally rewarded shortly after the midway point of the frame, when Cable rifled home a power-play goal off of a sick setup pass by Fransoo.

    At the 9:01 mark of the third, the Huskies pulled even at 2-2, when Forsberg blasted home a point shot through a screen for another power-play tally.

    Just over 90 seconds later, the Cougars went ahead 3-2, as Maclise scored with the man advantage, but the Huskies didn’t go away.

Jordan Fransoo helps anchor the Huskies back end.

    The hosts tied the game up at 3-3 at the 14:28 mark of the third, when forward Josh Roach fired home a point shot through a screen for another power-play goal.

    Just under two minutes after that tally, sophomore Zack Henry scored to put the Cougars up 4-3. The Huskies again pushed for the equalizer, which saw them pull Cooke with 2:03 to play in the frame. They had a couple of solid chances that weren’t able to find the back of the net, and Maclise iced the win for the Cougars with an empty netter with 19 seconds to play.
    Cooke turned away 23 of 27 shots for the Huskies, who fell to 12-3. Rookie Colin Cooper stopped 26 shots for the Cougars (9-4-2).

    Some of the Mount Royal goals were the result of some untimely giveaways by the Huskies, but you have to expect they will be focused to play a touch smarter the next time out to come out on the better end of the scoreboard.

    In defeat, you have to be impressed with the Huskies will to battle back. When they face the Cougars again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Rutherford Rink, another classic showdown will likely be in the cards.

    You almost wish they could drop the puck right now.

Rally comes up short

Brooklyn Haubrich charges hard to the net for the Huskies.

    A comeback attempt by the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team came up just short on the road on Friday night.

    In Calgary, the Huskies fell behind the host Mount Royal University Cougars 2-0 after two periods and dropped a 2-1 decision. Kate Hufnagel and Sarah Weninger scored in the first and second periods respectively for the Cougars.

    Rookie forward Brooklyn Haubrich replied for the Huskies at the 10:19 mark of the third, but the visitors, who are rated seventh in the CIS top ten rankings, were unable to final the tally that would have forced overtime.

    Cassidy Hendricks made 21 stops in goal for the Huskies, who fell to 8-5-2. Emma Pincott made 23 save in goal for the Cougars, who won their fourth in a row to improve to 8-6-1.

    The Huskies and Cougars go at it again on Saturday in Calgary.

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