Axemen pose tough challenge for Huskies
By Darren Zary of The StarPhoenix
EDMONTON — Ti-i-m-m-m-b-b-er-r-r!
That was the sound of the Acadia Axemen chopping down the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in their 1998 University Cup tournament-opener at what was then Saskatchewan Place, killing the No. 1-ranked Huskies’ national championship with a winning goal in the dying seconds.
For the first time since 1998, Saskatchewan and Acadia will meet today in the opening game of the 2006 Telus University Cup. This time, Acadia (19-8-1) is the No. 2 seed. Saskatchewan, which lost to Alberta in the Canada West final, comes in seeded No. 5.
“The first game is really key,” said U of S captain Brent Twordik. “Acadia’s going to be a really tough battle. We know what they’re about. Acadia has a bunch of guys who used to play in the WHL and they’ve got the top scorer in the league who was tied with (Dean) Beuker, so we know they’ve got a pretty good team.”
Acadia, which won the Atlantic conference after a three-game sweep over New Brunswick, is one of the main contenders for this year’s Cup along with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Lakehead. The Axemen split a twogame series with Alberta earlier this season in Edmonton.
“They’re a great team,” admits U of S coach Dave Adolph. “I’ve watched them a couple of times on webcast (against UNB). They have great depth and they probably have three or four high-end players, much like Alberta does. It’s going to be a battle.
“They use everybody, but they probably don’t use their bottom four guys very much, but neither do we, so it will be pretty similar.”
Acadia, which won CIS titles in 1993 and ’96, secured their first University Cup berth since a silver-medal finish at Saskatoon in 1998. Last year, the Axemen held a 2-0 lead over Moncton in the fifth-and-deciding game of the Atlantic final only to see the Blue Eagles come back to win 3-2 in double-OT and earn the conference ticket to Edmonton, where Saskatchewan blanked them 3-0.
In Atlantic conference play this season, the Axemen led in both offence (110 goals) and defence (69 GA). Atlantic and CIS MVP Kevin Baker (a former L.A. Kings draft pick who played two seasons in the AHL) tied Saskatchewan’s Beuker for the CIS scoring lead with 47 points in 28 games. Acadia has no shortage of big-game experience with 10 skaters who have played in the Memorial Cup tournament, including fourth-year centre Andrew Bergen, who won the Memorial Cup with the Red Deer Rebels in 2001. Fifth-year head coach Darren Burns, named CIS coach of the year in 2005, was a member of the two Axemen national championship teams, as a player in ’93 and assistant coach in ’96.
“We’ve got a good strong core of excellent leaders who are all about integrity and working hard,” Burns said here Wednesday. “They’ve just singlehandedly turned our program around. We’ve tried to build on our tradition and the success we had in the early ’90s. Tradition is everything in university hockey.”
Former Saskatoon Blades D-man Kane Ludwar, who anchors the Axemen blue-line, is one of a handful of former WHLers with Acadia. Goalie Lanny Ramage is another. forward Kevin Koral hails from Choiceland.
“Acadia’s a good team,” offered Huskies forward Keegan McAvoy. “They’re probably going to be playing much like we do out in the West. They come from a tough division, so we know the game’s going to be tight.
“Our whole year is riding on one game, pretty much. In a tournament like this, if you don’t win the first one, you’re pretty much hooped. If we win that game, we’ve got a chance to win the tournament. I know we’re going to be ready.”
dzary@sp.canwest.com
University of Saskatchewan vs. Acadia 1 p.m. Sask. time Clare Drake Arena, Edmonton
