Huskies break longstanding wins record with sweep of Cougars

Kozun breaks into goaltending record books too

Parker Thomas and Taran Kozun mark a Huskies win.

    It had been tied on a couple of occasions before finally being broken.

    On Saturday before 1,670 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team thumped the Mount Royal University Cougars 6-1 in a U Sports regular season contest to improve to 23-3. With their 23^rd win, the Huskies set a new team record for wins in one regular season.

    The old record of 22 wins was posted on three occasions. The former mark of 22 victories was first established in the 1987-88 season, when the Huskies posted a record of 22 wins, five losses and one tie.

    The Dogs reached 22 wins again in the 1999-2000 regular season posting a record of 22 wins, three losses and three ties. The record was last equaled in the 2015-16 campaign when the Huskies posted a 22-6 record. That season marks the last time the Huskies won the Canada West title.

Taran Kozun has posted 19 wins in goal this season for the Huskies.

    U of S equaled its former wins record on Friday downing Mount Royal 1-0 in double overtime before 1,713 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place.
    Fourth-year winger Levi Cable scored the only goal of the contest at the 1:35 mark of a second five-minute overtime period with captain Jesse Forsberg picking up the assist.
    Taran Kozun made 14 saves to pick up the shutout in goal for the Huskies. Rookie Riley Morris turned away 44 shots to take the setback in goal for the Cougars.

    In Saturday’s encounter between these two squads, the Huskies led 1-0 after the first period and 2-0 after the second frame. They expanded their edge to 6-0 in the third before the Cougars rounded out the game’s scoring with the final goal.

    Forsberg scored twice for the Huskies, while Carter Folk, Donovan Neuls, Collin Shirley and Sam Ruopp had singles. Connor Chartier had the lone reply for the Cougars.

    Kozun made 25 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies.

Levi Cable had the double OT winner for the Huskies on Friday.

    Fourth-year netminder Colin Cooper turned away 34 shots to take the setback in goal for the Cougars, who fell to 12-12-2 to remain fourth in Canada West.

    When Chartier beat Kozun at the 15:58 mark of the third period, that goal ended a shutout streak that lasted an impressive 267 minutes and 32 seconds for the Huskies puck stopper. Kozun’s streak, which spanned over five games, set a new Canada West Conference record for the longest consecutive shutout streak in regular season play.
    Before being beaten by Chartier, Kozun last allowed a goal to Brooks Maxwell of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns at the 14:11 mark of the second period in a 5-4 Huskies win in Lethbridge on Jan. 19.

    The old Canada West record for longest consecutive shutout streak in regular season play was held by former University of Calgary Dinos goalie Kris Lazaruk. During the 2014-15 campaign, Lazaruk posted a shutout streak lasting 255 minutes and three seconds that spanned over five games.

Jesse Forsberg had a big weekend for the Huskies.

    With the sweep of the Cougars in the books, Kozun, who is in his sophomore season, has posted an impressive 19-3 record, a 1.79 goals against average, a .926 save percentage and five shutouts in goal for the Huskies this season.

    The Nipawin, Sask., product has matched the Huskies team record for most wins in one regular season by a goaltender. He shares the record with former teammate a recent Huskies grad in Jordon Cooke.
    Cooke recorded 19 wins in two separate regular seasons in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

    As a team, the Huskies are one point shy of matching their team record for most standings points collected in one regular season, which currently sits at 47 points set in the 1999-2000 campaign.

    The Huskies, who are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, have won their last eight straight games, and with their 23-3 mark, they top the Canada West standings with a one point lead over the defending conference and U Sports national champion University of Alberta Golden Bears (22-3-1).
    The Golden Bears, who are rated first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, have won 11 straight and have recorded points in their last 19 regular season games. 

Donovan Neuls scored for the Huskies on Saturday.

    If the Huskies can win their final two regular season games, they will lock up first place in the Canada West regular season standings for the third time in the last four years.

    They close the regular season by traveling to Winnipeg to face the University of Manitoba Bisons (6-18-2) on Friday and Saturday.

    The Golden Bears conclude their regular season with a pair of games against the Dinos (18-6-1-1). The two squads meet Friday in Calgary and Saturday in Edmonton.

    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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Hurricanes wildcard in chase to host 2020 Memorial Cup

The Hurricanes are in the mix to host the 2020 Memorial Cup.

    It appears a team from the WHL’s Western Conference might not be a lock to host the Memorial Cup in 2020.

    For the longest time, a common consensus among those that follow the WHL was that a club from the Western Conference would host the Memorial Cup tournament when the circuit’s turn came up in 2020. The last four times the WHL has hosted the CHL championship tournament it was held by a club from the Eastern Conference.

    Brandon hosted in 2010, Saskatoon in 2013, Red Deer in 2016 and Regina hosted the 100^th Memorial Cup this past May.

    Vancouver was the last Western Conference centre from the WHL to hold the Memorial Cup back in 2007, when the host Giants downed the WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers 3-1 in the event’s title game.

    WHL teams had until May 31 to express interesting in bidding to be the host club for the 2020 Memorial Cup. The Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets and Victoria Royals were expected to file letters of intent, and they all did.

    Each of those clubs had made it known for a while that they would be in the chase to host the Memorial Cup.

    The Lethbridge Hurricanes also filed a letter of intent to express their interest to bid on the 2020 Memorial Cup.

Dylan Cozens (#24) is expected to be a big star for the Hurricanes.

    That development came out of the blue, because there was no noise at all coming out of Lethbridge that the Hurricanes were thinking about hosting the CHL’s championship tournament.

    No announcements have been made by the WHL to make any of this official. That is likely due to the fact that team executives are trying to squeeze in vacation and down time with this year’s Memorial Cup wrapping up on May 27.

    The four teams that were interested in bidding on the 2020 Memorial Cup were revealed by Bruce Hamilton, who is the Rockets general manager, president and owner and chairman of the WHL board of Governors, on a radio station in Kelowna.

    Lethbridge is slated to host the U Sports national men’s hockey championship – the University Cup – from March 14 to 17 in 2019 with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns as the host team.

    If the Hurricanes host the 2020 Memorial Cup, it would mark another major milestone in the WHL club’s resurgence.

    Lethbridge missed the playoffs for six consecutive seasons from 2009-10 to 2014-15. After the Hurricanes went 12-55-2-3 in the 2013-14 season, it seemed a death watch was surrounding the team. The Hurricanes existence in Lethbridge was called into question at times.

    Lethbridge was not a prime destination in the WHL, and it seemed like players that were there couldn’t wait to leave.

In two seasons, Calen Addison has become a star offensive defenceman.

    Things started to change when the Hurricanes hired Peter Anholt as the club’s assistant general manager before the start of the 2014-15 campaign. The veteran coach and hockey executive became the team’s head coach and general manager halfway through that campaign.

    Before the start of the 2015-16 season, he stepped back as head coach and made the inspired move to hire Brent Kisio for that role.

    The Hurricanes took off and topped the Central Division in 2015-16 with a 46-24-1-1 record before being eliminated in the first round of the WHL playoffs.

    In 2016-17, the Hurricanes posted a 44-21-4-3 mark to sit seventh overall in the league. They won two seven game series in the playoffs to advance to the WHL Eastern Conference championship series falling to the Regina Pats in six games.

    During a reloading campaign this past season, the Hurricanes returned to the playoffs with a 33-33-6 record. In the post-season, the Hurricanes took out the Red Deer Rebels in five games in the first round and the Brandon Wheat Kings in five games in the second round to return to the Eastern Conference Championship series.

    Lethbridge put up a big fight in the Eastern Conference Championship series falling in six games to the eventual WHL champion Swift Current Broncos.

Jadon Joseph could be a Hurricanes overager in 2019-20.

    While the Hurricanes have outstanding people in the front office and coaching ranks, they are projecting to have a potentially strong roster in the 2019-20 season.

    Centres Dylan Cozens and Logan Barlage have come off strong 16-year-old rookie seasons, and they would be in their 18-year-old campaigns in 2019-20. They both could be established WHL stars in their 18-year-old seasons.

    Forwards Owen Blocker and Keltie Jeri-Leon had sound 17-year-old campaigns, and both could potentially be 19-year-old standouts in 2019-20.

    Calen Addison had a spectacular 17-year-old sophomore campaign as an offensive defenceman piling up 11 goals and 54 assists in 68 regular season games. He would be in his 19-year-old season in 2019-20 campaign.

    The Hurricanes had a pair of towering rearguards in Nolan Jones, who stands 6-foot-2, and Alex Cotton, who stands 6-feet, appear in a handful of regular season games in their 16-year-old campaigns. They could potentially be part of the core of a strong defensive unit in the 2019-20 campaign.

    Lethbridge has an outside chance of having current captain Jordy Bellerive, who has a signed three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and skilled centre Jadon Joseph back for the 2019-20 campaign as overagers.

    In 2019-20, the Hurricanes could potentially have a mainly built through the draft type team that could win its way to the Memorial Cup, which would give them huge consideration in being the host team for that tournament.

Captain Jordy Bellerive is a potential overager for 2019-20.

    Fans have flocked back in droves to the Hurricanes home rink in the 4,093 seat Enmax Centre. When the Hurricanes took down the Wheat Kings 3-0 in a Game 5 second round series clinching win on April 13, they managed to pack 5,249 spectators into the Enmax Centre after standing room tickets were counted up.

    If you attended the 2016 Memorial Cup in Red Deer, a number of locals there said they were high on attending the CHL championship tournament, if Lethbridge or Medicine Hat ever played host to it.

    The two front runners from the Western Conference have to be the Rockets and Royals. Kelowna has been an elite WHL franchise for about the last 18 years and last hosted the Memorial Cup in 2004.

    The Royals have a sound organization as well, while the Blazers have the potential to get in that mix but are going through some organizational changes.

    Originally, it appeared Kelowna and Victoria would put forward the strongest cases to host the 2020 Memorial Cup. With Lethbridge in the mix, that is no longer the case.

    The WHL board of governors looks to have a good problem on their hands in ultimately determining which centre will host the 2020 Memorial Cup.

Cooke departs Huskies to play pro in France

Netminder Jordon Cooke has signed a professional contract to play in France.

    It appears the Jordon Cooke era has come to an end for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey team.

    On Wednesday when he turned 25-years-old, it was announced via the MacBeth Report that Cooke has signed a one-year contract to play goal professionally with Rapaces de Gap in the Ligue Magnus in France. Last season with the Huskies, Cooke appeared in 23 regular season games posting a 16-7 record, a 2.29 goals against average, a .920 save percentage and three shutouts.

    The Leduc, Alta., product suffered a knee injury in the Huskies first playoff game on Feb. 22, which knocked him out of action for the rest of the post-season.

    During his career with the Huskies that spanned four seasons from 2014 to 2018, Cooke appeared in 86 regular season games posting a 59-25-2 record, a 2.38 goals against average, a .920 save percentage and 10 shutouts.

Jordon Cooke (#32) enjoys a win with Collin Shirley (#11).

    He sits second all-time on the Huskies career list for regular season wins (59) and saves (2,358).

Cooke was the U Sports goaltender of the year and a U Sports first team all-Canadian in 2015-16 and 2016-17. This past season, Cooke was the Canada West goaltender of the year, a Canada West first team all-star and a second team U Sports all-Canadian.

    Before joining the Huskies, Cooke played four seasons in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets from 2010 to 2014. He appeared in 149 regular season games posting a 92-34-12 record, a 2.54 goals against average, a .915 save percentage and nine shutouts.

    He was the CHL goaltender of the year in the 2013-14 campaign.

    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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Huskies’ resilience tested in second half of 2017-18 season

Injured goalie Jordon Cooke is helped off the ice on February 22.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team showed they can still keep plugging along even when things aren’t going smoothly.

    Like most years, the Huskies entered the 2017-18 campaign as a team pegged to contend for Canada West and U Sports national championships. With that said, the uncontrollable variables of a season can always throw a wrench into any lofty hopes.

    The Huskies entered the Christmas break sitting second in the Canada West Conference holding a 13-2-1 record. The first sign that foreshadowed the second half of the campaign could be a rough one occurred on Jan. 6, when the Huskies lost sophomore forward Wyatt Johnson to a concussion injury in a 4-2 road setback to the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns. Johnson ultimately missed the rest of the campaign.

The Huskies suffered a big blow when star goalie Jordon Cooke was injured.

    After Johnson went down, the Huskies kept motoring on, and they sat in a tie for first place with their “forever rivals” the University of Alberta Golden Bears when play concluded on Jan. 20. Both team were posting 18-3-1 records at that time.

    From that point, the injury bug started taking more and more bites out of the Huskies roster and players fell in and out of the lineup. At one point in the post-season, the Huskies entire first line of left-winger Michael Sofillas, centre Logan McVeigh and right-winger Josh Roach were all on the shelf.

    Veteran Huskies head coach Dave Adolph usually carries a 26 player roster just in case injuries strike. He ultimate needed to use everyone on his roster out of necessity as opposed to rotating players in through games.

Right-winger Josh Roach led the Huskies in scoring.

    The Huskies finished the regular season sitting second in Canada West with a 20-7-1 mark.

    Their biggest obstacle came in the first game of the playoffs on Feb. 22 against the University of Calgary Dinos at the ancient Rutherford Rink. On the Dinos first goal at the 6:59 mark of the first period, a scrum of players crashed into star netminder Jordon Cooke.

    He suffered a knee injury that knocked him out for the rest of the post-season and likely clouds his immediate hockey future. In that moment, the Huskies lost the goalie that is second on their team’s all-time career list for regular season wins (59) and regular season saves (2,358).

    Cooke was the U Sports goaltender of the year and a U Sports first team all-Canadian in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns. The Leduc, Alta., product was named a Canada West first team all-star, the Canada West goaltender of the year and a second team U Sports all-Canadian this past season.

Captain Kendall McFaull won the U Sports community service award.

    Shortly after Cooke departed that contest with the Dinos, the Huskies found themselves down 3-0. At that point, one had to wonder if the Dogs were going to quickly fall out of the post-season picture.

    The Huskies rebounded that night to pull out a 6-4 victory. The Dinos took Game 2 by a 2-1 final to force a deciding Game 3 in the best-of-three Canada West semifinal series.

    U of S claimed a 3-1 victory in Game 3 with sophomore left-winger Carson Stadnyk scoring the winning goal with 24 seconds to play in the third period to break a 1-1 tie. The Huskies added an empty-net tally a short time later to round out the victory.

    The Dogs proceeded to limp into the best-of-three Canada West championship series in Edmonton and was swept away by the Golden Bears 2-0.

    The Huskies moved on to the David Johnston University Cup elite eight U Sports men’s hockey championship for the sixth time in the last seven years. At this year’s tournament in Fredericton, N.B., they were a sixth seed that was expected to make an early exit.

John Lawrence gave a gritty effort every night for the Huskies.

    Sofillas, McVeigh and Roach all played in the quarter-final, where the Huskies knocked off the McGill University Redmen 4-1. Sofillas was knocked out of the lineup again after that win and didn’t return for the rest of the tournament.

    That set the scene for the Huskies to face the Golden Bears in their 504^th all-time encounter in a semifinal contest. U of S built a 2-0 lead after two periods before running into penalty trouble in the third frame.

    The Golden Bears rallied for a pair of power-play goals to force a 2-2 tie and send the contest into overtime. Trevor Cox scored for the Golden Bears in overtime causing the Huskies to fall 3-2. Between the regular season, Canada West championship series and University Cup tournament, the Golden Bears won six of their seven head-to-head encounters with the Huskies in 2017-18.

Puck moving rearguard Connor Cox wrapped up his time with the Huskies.

    On Sunday, U of S fell in the bronze medal game to the host University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds 5-4 in overtime.

    The Golden Bears claimed their 16^th national title in team history and third championship in the last five years downing the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men 4-2 in the tournament’s championship game.

    During the post-season, rookie Taran Kozun played admirably and picked up a lot of experience playing goal for the Huskies in place of the injured Cooke. Kozun was the WHL goaltender of the year in the 2014-15 campaign playing for the Seattle Thunderbirds. Besides stopping the puck, Kozun turned heads with his ability to play the puck and gives the Huskies stability in that position going forward.

    Roach, who led the Huskies in regular season scoring with 13 goals and 27 assists, claimed the Canada West sportsmanship and ability award, was a first team Canada West all-star and a second team U Sports all-Canadian. McVeigh, who was second in Huskies regular season scoring with seven goals and 22 assists, was a second team Canada West all-star.

Taran Kozun performed admirably in the playoffs for the Huskies.

    Captain Kendall McFaull was a second team Canada West all-star, a University Cup tournament all-star and claimed the Canada West and U Sports Student-Athlete Community Service awards.

    The Huskies graduate McFaull, Roach, gritty centre John Lawrence and puck moving defenceman Connor Cox, with them all completing their fifth-years of eligibility.

    They still have all sorts of depth going into the future. Defenceman Jesse Forsberg, who recorded five goals and 15 assists to lead all Huskies rearguards in regular season scoring, Jordan Fransoo, Colby Harmsworth and Tanner Lishchynsky are some of the steady blue-liners who are eligible to return.

    At forward, the Huskies could potentially return the likes McVeigh, Sofillas, Stadnyk, Kohl Bauml, Alex Forsberg, Parker Thomas, Levi Cable, Andrew Johnson, Jaimen Yakubowski, Jordan Tkatch, Connor Gay and Collin Shirley.

Carson Stadnyk had the playoff series winner versus the Dinos.

    The Huskies remain one of the top men’s hockey programs in U Sports, but they would probably like to have a little more success at U Sports nationals. 

    Since winning their lone national title in 1983, the Huskies have appeared in the University Cup 15 times, advanced to the championship game on four occasions and haven’t been able to capture an elusive second national title.

    The Golden Bears sit at the other end of the spectrum making the University Cup championship game 21 times in their history coming away with 16 wins to keep piling up national championship banners.

    When fall comes around, you can be sure the Huskies will give it their best shot to win it all controlling everything they are able to control. If the factors they can’t control finally decide to fall in their favour, that dream of an elusive second national title might just be realized.

    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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No one outworks the Dogs – Huskies upset Redmen 4-1

Josh Roach returned from injury to the Huskies.

    The underdog role seems to fit the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team just fine.

    On Friday at the University Cup in Fredericton, N.B., the Huskies never trailed as they put together one of their best performances of the season to down the third seeded McGill University Redmen 4-1 in a quarter-final match before 2,739 spectators at the Aitken University Centre. With the win, the Huskies advance to the “frozen four” semifinal round of the U Sports elite eight national championship tournament for a third straight year.

    Entering the University Cup, the Huskies were pegged as a team that could be eliminated in one game due to the fact they were playing without star goaltender Jordon Cooke due to a knee injury. Cooke was named the U Sports goaltender-of-the-year and a first team U Sports all-Canadian in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.

    The Leduc, Alta., product claimed honours as the Canada West goaltender of the year for a third straight season this past campaign and he was named a second team U Sports all-Canadian.

    Taran Kozun started his fifth straight post-season game, and the rookie, who was the WHL goaltender of the year in the 2014-15 campaign while playing for the Seattle Thunderbirds, was stellar making 33 saves to pick up in goal for the Huskies.

    The Huskies had injuries to three key forwards in sophomore Wyatt Johnson, who is battling a concussion, and first liners Josh Roach and Michael Sofillas were pegged to possibly return from undisclosed ailments. Roach, who is in his fifth and final season with the Huskies and was the team’s scoring leader with 13 goals and 24 assists in 27 regular season games, had a higher likelihood of returning than Sofillas.

Connor Cox had a goal for the Huskies on Friday.

    Roach, who was a second team all-Canadian all-star, and Sofillas played and helped the Huskies go up 1-0 with a power-play goal at the 12:42 mark of the first period.

    Working the point, Roach fed the puck down low on the right side of the Redmen zone to centre Logan McVeigh. McVeigh passed the puck out front to Sofillas who knocked home the game’s first  goal.

    Just 63 seconds into the second, the Huskies entered the Redmen zone on a three-on-two rush. Defenceman Connor Cox drove down low to the left side of Redmen goal and fired home the rebound from a shot taken by right-winger Levi Cable to put the Huskies up 2-0.

    With 2:23 to play in the second, the Redmen cut the Huskies lead to 2-1, when forward Antoine Dufort-Plant potted the rebound from the point shot from defencemen Maximilian Daigle for a power-play goal.

    Huskies extended their lead to 3-1 at the 9:58 mark of the third on a bit of a positive bounce goal. A point shot from defenceman Jordan Fransoo deflected off the stick of Andrew Johnson, off Redmen defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti, flipped high in the air and as it was coming down was knocked into the Redmen goal by Huskies left-winger Carson Stadnyk.

Carson Stadnyk scored for the Huskies.

    Skilled centre Kohl Bauml iced the win for the Huskies scoring into an empty net with 65 seconds remaining in the third.

    Louis-Philip Guindon turned away 29-of-32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Redmen.

    The Redmen posted a 22-4-2 record in the regular season and a 7-2 mark in the OUA playoffs. The Huskies posted a 20-7-1 record during the regular season and 2-3 mark in the Canada West playoffs.

    The Huskies now advance to play their “forever rivals” in the second seeded University of Alberta Golden Bears in a semifinal on Saturday (1 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet 360).
    Between the regular season and playoffs, the Golden Bears have won five of the six head-to-head meetings with the Huskies including sweeping the best-of-three Canada West championship series 2-0.

    The Golden Bears prevailed in their quarter-final match earlier on Friday 8-6 over the seventh seeded Acadia University Axemen.  

    Saturday’s earlier semifinal features the top seeded tournament host and defending University Cup champion University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds taking on the fifth seeded St. Francis Xavier University X-Men. The Varsity Red came into the tournament having won the Atlantic University Sport conference title.

Kohl Bauml had an empty-net goal for the Huskies.

    Last year, the Varsity Reds as the host squad defeated the Huskies 5-3 in the championship final of the University Cup.
    For the first time since the championship tournaments in both men’s and women’s hockey in U Sports switched to an elite eight format in the 2014-15 campaign, the Huskies have both their men’s and women’s teams qualified for the semifinal round in the same year.

    At the women’s tournament in London, Ont., the seventh seeded Huskies will take on the host and third seeded University of Western Ontario Mustangs in one semifinal on Saturday, while the other semifinal sees the top seeded University of Manitoba Bisons battle the fourth seeded Concordia University Stingers.

    The bronze medal and champion games for both elite eight tournaments are slated for Sunday.

@HuskiesMHKY have beaten @McGillAthletics 4-1, and advance to the @USPORTS_Hockey Semi-Finals! Watch it live on Sportsnet 360, and on Sportsnet NOW‼️

Les @HuskieAthletics ont battu les @HockeyRedmen 4-1 et accèdent à la demi-finale de hockey masculin U SPORTS! ✨#ChampSZN 🏆 pic.twitter.com/HGS24MD3AE

— Coupe U Cup (@coupeUcup) March 17, 2018

    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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Huskies’ McFaull wins U Sports community service award

Huskies captain Kendall McFaull won a major U Sports award.

    Kendall McFaull is the unquestioned leader of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team on the ice, and this year he has been rewarded for his leadership off the ice.

    On February 28, the 25-year-old standout defenceman was named the winner of the Student-Athlete Community Service Award for the Canada West Conference. On Wednesday at the U Sports men’s hockey awards gala in Fredericton, N.B., McFaull claimed that same honour on a national level being named the winner of the U Sports Dr. Randy Gregg Award for student-athlete community service.

    McFaull, who is completing his fifth and final season with the Huskies, appeared in 27 regular season games recording four goals, five assists and a plus-nine rating in the plus-minus department. He was named a second team Canada West all-star. In his U Sports career, the Rosetown, Sask., product has played 139 career regular season games recording 13 goals, 26 assists and a plus-36 rating.

    Away from the rink, the mechanical engineering student has volunteered for various organizations including the Huskie Athletics Academic Council, Huskie homeroom, Saskatoon Minor Hockey and Recess Guardians, which is a program that helps elementary school students learn to interact and develop leadership skills through games and social interaction.

Huskies captain Kendall McFaull has been a leader on and off the ice.

    McFaull was an academic all-Canadian last season and entered his final semester with an 88 per cent average during the current academic year.

    Also at the men’s hockey awards gala, Huskies fifth-year winger Josh Roach and fourth-year netminder Jordon Cooke were named second team All-Canadian all-stars.

    The Huskies open play at the University Cup elite eight U Sports national championship tournament taking on the McGill University Redmen in a quarter-final match on Friday. The Huskies are seeding sixth, and the Redmen are seeded third.

    At the U Sports women’s hockey awards gala held on Wednesday in London, Ont., University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team sophomore netminder Jessica Vance was named a first team all-Canadian all-star.

    The Huskies open play at the U Sports women’s national championship elite eight tournament in a quarter-final match on Thursday against the Saint Mary’s University Huskies. U of S is seeded seventh and Saint Mary’s University is seeded second.

Dach line lights up scoreboard for Blades

Kirby Dach netted four points for the Blades on Wednesday.

    The line of Kirby Dach, Eric Florchuk and Max Gerlach powered the Saskatoon Blades to an upset victory over the Broncos in Swift Current on Wednesday.

    The trio combined for three goals and five assists to push the Blades to a 5-2 regular season win over the Broncos before a sellout crowd of 2,890 spectators at the Credit Union i-Plex. Dach picked up one goal and three assists centring a line with Gerlach at right wing and Florchuk at left wing. Gerlach had a pair of goals and an assist, while Florchuk had one assist.

    Dach scored on a give-and-go with Florchuk with 14.2 seconds to play in the first period to give the Blades a 1-0 lead. Overage left-winger Braylon Shmyr potted his 37^th of the season to give the Blades a 2-0 edge at the 4:47 mark of the second period.

    Kaden Elder and Matteo Gennaro, who potted his 41^st goal of the season, replied with singles for the Broncos to tie things up at 2-2 in the second.

    Inside of the final 10 seconds of the second, winger Michael Farren scored to put the Blades back out in front 3-2.

Eric Florchuk had an assist on Wednesday.

    Gerlach netted his 30th and 31^st goals of the campaign in the third to round out the win for the visitors. The 19-year-old Flower Mound, Texas, product has scored 30-or-more goals in all three of his seasons in the WHL.
    Overage netminder Tyler Brown turned away 42 shots to pick up the win making his first start in goal for the Blades since February 16, when Saskatoon dropped a 5-4 decision on the road against the Hurricanes in Lethbridge. Stuart Skinner turned away 22 shots to take the setback in goal for the Broncos.

    The Blades, who have been eliminated from WHL playoff contention, improved to 33-33-3-1. They are 2-6-1 in their last nine games. The Broncos fell to 47-17-4-2 and are cemented to finish second overall in the WHL regular season standings.

    Saskatoon closes its regular season schedule with a home-and-home series with the Prince Albert Raiders (32-25-9-4). The two teams face each other on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. They will go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Saskatoon at the SaskTel Centre.

    The Raiders have clinched a berth in the WHL post-season earning the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.

Ball delivers in double OT for Bears

Kate Ball scored a double OT winner for the Bears on Wednesday night.

    Kate Ball’s goal in double overtime capped a critical playoff comeback win for the Prince Albert Northern Bears.

    The 16-year-old centre scored at the 11:39 mark of a second overtime period to give the Bears a 3-2 victory over the Notre Dame Hounds in Game 3 of a Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League semifinal series at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert on Wednesday night. With the win, the Bears take a 2-1 lead in a best-of-five set with the Hounds.

    The Bears, who are the defending SFMAAAHL champions, will try to close out the series in Game 4 on Saturday in Wilcox, Sask. If the Hounds prevail in Game 4, a series deciding Game 5 will be held on Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

    Raine Smith gave the Hounds a 1-0 lead in the first period, and gritty forward Brooklyn Anderson replied for the Bears inside of the final minute of the opening frame to force a 1-1 tie.

    Jenna MacLean scored the lone goal in the second period to give the Hounds a 2-1 advantage.

    Veteran forward Camryn Amundson scored for the Bears to force a 2-2 tie with 1:48 remaining in the third period and force overtime. That set the stage for Ball to net the game winner.

    Ryan Fontaine turned away 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Bears. Kaitlyn Ross turned away 47 shots to take the setback in goal for the Hounds.

    The winner of the series between the Bears and Hounds will advance to face the Saskatoon Stars in a best-of-five SFMAAAHL championship series. The Stars swept away the Regina Rebels 3-0 in the other SFMAAAHL semifinal series.

    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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Huskies will be underdogs at this year’s University Cup

Levi Cable, left, Taran Kozun and the Huskies are playing with house money.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team has nothing to lose and everything to gain at this year’s University Cup.

    The Huskies are usually viewed as one of the contenders at the U Sports national men’s hockey championship tournament when they get there. Last year, the Huskies advanced to the tournament’s championship game, where they fell 5-3 to the host University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds.

    This year is a little bit of a different story as the University Cup tournament returns to Fredericton, N.B., for a second consecutive time. The Dogs limp into the University Cup as a beat up team on the injury front.

    They will be without star netminder Jordon Cooke, who suffered a knee injury in a 6-4 playoff win over the University of Calgary Dinos on Feb. 22. Cooke went down after being crashed into in the Huskies goal.

    Cooke had been named the goalie-of-the-year for Canada West this season for a third straight year. He was the U Sports goaltender-of-the-year and a first team U Sports all-Canadian in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.

Jesse Forsberg has been key in controlling the back end for the Huskies.

    The absence of the Leduc, Alta., product is a huge one without even adding in the fact he is the Huskies second all-time career leader in regular season wins (59) and saves (2,358).

    Sophomore forward Wyatt Johnson is battling a concussion. First line forwards Michael Sofillas and Josh Roach have also been battling injuries, but there is a chance they could be in the lineup for the Huskies. Roach has a higher likelihood of returning than Sofillas.

    Centre Logan McVeigh returned to the Huskies for the Canada West championships series after missing three games with a broken jaw, which is an injury he is playing with.

    Besides the injuries, the Huskies head to nationals after being swept in the best-of-three Canada West title series by the University of Alberta Golden Bears 2-0 in Edmonton.

    The Huskies had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in Game 1 of that series played on March 2, before the Golden Bears rolled to a 5-2 victory. One night later in Game 2, the Golden Bears jumped out to a 5-0 lead before coasting to a 5-1 victory.

    Both of those emotionally charged contests attracted respective crowds of 2,896 and 2,963 to the Clare Drake Arena who likely wanted to see the Huskies lose as much as see the Golden Bears win on both of those nights.

Taran Kozun (#31) carries the load in goal for the Huskies.

    However, the “Madness of March” brings opportunity. In elite-eight single elimination tournaments like the University Cup, odds increase for underdog squads like the Huskies to produce upsets. The tournament kicks off with two quarter-final games on Thursday.

    The Huskies, who are seeded sixth, play in Friday’s second quarter-final game against the third seeded McGill University Redmen, who are the champions of the Ontario University Athletics conference.

    The Redmen posted a 22-4-2 record in the regular season and a 7-2 mark in the OUA playoffs. Centre Jerome Verrier topped the Redmen in regular season scoring with 12 goals and 29 assists. Second-year forward Christophe Lalonde topped the Redmen with 13 goals in the regular season, while also posting eight assists in 25 appearances.

    Defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi quarterbacked the Redmen’s offence on the back end topping all of the team’s rearguards in scoring with eight goals and 17 assists in the regular season.

Josh Roach has a good chance of returning from injury at nationals.

    Netminder Louis-Philip Guindon carries the load in goal as the start for the Redmen posting an 18-4-2 record, a 2.22 goals against average, a .917 save percentage and three shutouts.

    The Huskies posted a 20-7-1 record during the regular season and 2-3 mark in the Canada West playoffs.

    Roach led the Huskies in regular season scoring with 13 goals and 24 assists in 27 appearances. McVeigh was second in team scoring with seven goals and 22 assists in 27 appearances.

    Rookie Alex Forsberg had a strong season recording 11 goals and 12 assists in 24 regular season games. Older brother Jesse Forsberg was stellar on the back end leads all Huskies defencemen in scoring with five goals and 15 assists in 24 appearances.

    Alex Forsberg plays left wing on the Huskies grittiest line - which should likely be the team’s most noticeable line - with fifth-year veteran John Lawrence at centre and fourth-year veteran Parker Thomas at right wing.

    Taran Kozun will carry the load in goal for the Huskies in the absence of Cooke. In five regular season starts, Kozun posted a 4-0-1 record, a 2.00 goals against average, a .924 save percentage and one shutout. He was the WHL goaltender of the year in the 2014-15 campaign while playing for the Seattle Thunderbirds.

    The team is guided a stellar coaching staff led by longtime veteran head coach Dave Adolph who have pretty much seen everything.

The Huskies hope to celebrate a few magical goal moments at nationals.

    While the Huskies are beat up, they have enough depth to be a problem for any team they face. They still have the potential to be in one of the two semifinal games on Saturday playing the winner of quarter-final contest between the Golden Bears and the Acadia University Axemen and in Sunday’s gold medal game.

    The Huskies are playing with house money in this trip to nationals. It provides an opportunity to write a unique chapter in their storied history.

    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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Expect Golden Bears and Huskies to play for keeps

“Forever Rivals” battle in Canada West final once again

The Huskies and Golden Bears will renew their rivalry.

    Don’t expect the participants in the Canada West Conference championship series to coast into the University Cup.

    For the third straight year, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team will face the University of Alberta Golden Bears for the Canada West title. The Huskies won the conference title in 2016, while the Golden Bears took the conference crown last year.

    As has been the case for the previous three years, the two participants in the Canada West final automatically earned berths into the U Sports national championship tournament the University Cup.   
    The University Cup runs March 15 to 18 and is being hosted by the defending U Sports champion University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds in Fredericton, N.B., for a second straight year.

    While the Huskies and Golden Bears knew they had berths locked up at the University Cup each of the past two years, they still played for keeps when they met in the Canada West final. In case anyone has forgotten, this is an old school pure sports rivalry.

    These two teams do have some respect for each other, but there is also a healthy dislike for one another that goes along with that respect. The dislike becomes obvious in the head-to-head encounters.

Jesse Forsberg had another stellar season on the Huskies back end.

    Unlike the past two years, the Canada West championship series this year won’t be held at the ancient Rutherford Rink.
    On the strength of finishing first in Canada West with a 23-4-1 record, the Golden Bears will host this year’s best-of-three series at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Alta., with Game 1 set for Friday. The Golden Bears are rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

    The Huskies, who finished second in Canada West with a 20-7-1 mark, will be the underdogs. They are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

    Fans in Edmonton love getting into this rivalry, and it is expected the Golden Bears will do their best to cram over 2,500 spectators into their home rink.

    The Huskies are also beat up on the injury front. Star netminder Jordon Cooke is on crutches and is out for the rest of the post-season. On Wednesday, he was named Canada West’s goalie-of-the-year for a third straight year.
    The team’s first line of Michael Sofillas, Josh Roach and Logan McVeigh are all battling injuries along with sophomore forward Wyatt Johnson.

    Johnson, who has a concussion, isn’t expected to be available. Roach has the highest likelihood of being ready for Game 1 out of the trio from the injured first line.

Luke Philp topped Canada West in scoring.

    The Golden Bears have all their top players at their disposal. Sophomore forward Luke Philp topped Canada West in scoring with 11 goals and 29 assists. He was named Canada West’s player-of-the-year.
    Fellow sophomore forward Trevor Cox was fourth in Canada West scoring with seven goals and 27 assists.

    Fourth-year forward Stephane Legault was fifth in conference scoring with eight goals and 22 assists. Centre Steven Owre, who was named Canada West’s rookie-of-the-year, sat ninth in Canada West scoring with 17 goals and 11 assists.

    Defensive forward and captain Riley Kieser had another solid campaign appearing in 25 regular season games recording five goals, eight assists and a plus-14 rating in the plus-minus department.

    Jason Fram, who was named Canada West’s defenceman-of-the-year, is the quarterback on the power play for the Golden Bears netting nine goals and 14 assists appearing in all 28 regular season games to lead all defencemen on his team in scoring.

    Sophomore Brendan Burke is expected to carry the load in goal for U of A. In 15 appearances in the regular season, Burke posted an 11-2-1 record, a 2.03 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and two shutouts.
    Burke combined with goaltending partner Zach Sawchenko to take Canada West honours as the due with the lowest goals against average at 2.14.

    Roach, who was named Canada West’s sportsmanship and ability award winner, topped the Huskies in scoring collecting 13 goals and 24 assists in 27 regular season games to finish second in scoring in Canada West. Jesse Forsberg had another strong season for the Dogs recording five goals, 15 assists and a plus-15 rating to further cement his reputation as an elite offensive defenceman.

Huskies D Tanner Lishchynsky, left, tracks Golden Bears F Taylor Cooper.

    Due to all their injuries, the Huskies will have to rely on their character guys to carry the load. Their gritty forward unit of fifth-year centre John Lawrence, fourth-year right-winger Parker Thomas and rookie left-winger Alex Forsberg has turned heads as being the line that can play physical and provide offence.

    Forsberg, who has quite a bit of offensive skill, finished third in team scoring for the Huskies posting 11 goals and 12 assists in 24 regular season appearances. Thomas, who is the most gritty player on the unit, had career highs in goals (seven) and assists (10) appearing in 27 regular season games. Lawrence, who is known as a defensive forward, had eight goals and eight assists to go along with a plus-15 rating appearing in all 28 of the Huskies regular season games.

    The Huskies do have depth up front and will look to get scoring by committee from the likes of Kohl Bauml, Levi Cable, Collin Shirley, Carson Stadnyk and Connor Gay.

    Captain Kendall McFaull, who was named the winner of Canada West’s student-athlete community service award, anchors a steady defensive back end.

The Golden Bears hold up Huskies centre John Lawrence.

    Taran Kozun, who was the WHL goaltender of the year in the 2014-15 campaign when he was with the Seattle Thunderbirds, will carry the load in goal for the Huskies in relief of the injured Cooke. Kozun posted a 4-0-1 record, a 2.00 goals against average, a .924 save percentage and one shutout in five regular season appearances in his rookie campaign. In the playoffs, Kozun has a 2-1 record, a 2.09 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.

    During the regular season, the Golden Bears won three out of the four head-to-head meetings with the Huskies, and U of A will be sizable favourites to take the Canada West championship over a U of S side that is hampered by injuries.

    Don’t expect the Huskies to go quietly. They have shown their perseverance so far in the post-season, and they will put in the effort to ensure there are no guarantees of the final outcome of this series.

    Due to the intensity of this rivalry, there will likely be some unpredictable plot twists. Expect to see some compelling must-watch drama in these encounters.
    NOTE - University of British Columbia Thunderbirds head coach Sven Butenschon took home honours as the Canada West coach-of-the-year, while the Mount Royal University Cougars won the Canada West Fair Play Trophy as the team with the fewest penalty minutes during the regular season at 312.

Vance named Canada West MVP

Huskies G Jessica Vance was named the Canada West MVP.

    Jessica Vance couldn’t have been shutout from capturing the highest individual honour in Canada West women’s hockey.

    On Wednesday, the 20-year-old netminder for the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team was named the most valuable player of the Canada West Conference. Vance posted a 14-3-1 record, a 0.77 goals against average, a .964 save percentage and nine shutouts.

    She tied for the second most individual shutouts posted in one regular season in the history of the Canada West Conference equaling the nine put up by former U of Alberta Pandas netminder Stacey McCullough in the 2000-01 campaign. Former U of Alberta Pandas goalie Lindsey Post holds the Canada West record for most shutouts in one regular season at 10 set back in the 2014-15 campaign.

    Thanks to Vance’s effort, the Huskies set a new team record for most wins in one regular season at 19 finishing second in the conference with a 19-7-2 record.

    In the post-season, the Huskies will play the U of Manitoba Bisons in a best-of-three Canada West championship series that beings win Game 1 on Friday in Winnipeg, Man. Game 2 and if necessary Game 3 will be held Saturday and Sunday respectively in Winnipeg.

    The Bison finished first in Canada West with a 22-5-1 record.

    The Herd is rated first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, while the Huskies are rated eighth.

Bisons G Lauren Taraschuk was named the Canada West rookie-of-the-year.

    U of M netminder Lauren Taraschuk was named the Canada West rookie-of-the-year on Wednesday. The 18-year-old Winnipeg, Man., product appeared in 12 regular season games posting a 10-2 record, a 0.71 goals against average, a .961 save percentage and five shutouts. Taraschuk has become the Bisons main starter in goal for the post-season.

    Bisons head coach John Rempel was named the Canada West coach of the year for a second straight year.

    Third-year Defender Mikayla Ogrodniczuk of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds won Canada West’s student-athlete community service award.
    Both the Huskies and Bisons have berths lock up at the U Sports nationals, which run March 15 to 18 in London, Ont., and are hosted by the University of Western Ontario Mustangs.

    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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