No holding back in Canada West final

By Darren Zary of The StarPhoenix

Since both participating teams are already assured a spot in the 2006 Telus University Cup national tournament in Edmonton, this year’s Canada West men’s hockey final may be viewed as a “nothing” or “meaningless” series by some.

Try telling that to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies or the Alberta Golden Bears.

“Have you ever played a ‘nothing series’ when there’s a banner and a championship attached to it?” said U of S coach Dave Adolph, who was offended by any suggestion that this year’s best-ofthree game final was any different.

“If it’s a nothing series, as some people say, then we’ve been doing it for 10 years — playing for nothing.

“Here’s what I can tell you about the upcoming weekend: Our players have asked me if we can go a day earlier (Wednesday) so they can have a little more time in Edmonton to get their legs ready for the weekend. I would suggest it’s not a nothing series if they suggest that.”

The Huskies will practise Thursday morning and be on the road by Thursday noon. “It gives us almost three-quarters of a day more than what we normally do,” said Adolph.

The Bears are equally adamant that this weekend actually means something.

“It’s never ‘nothing’ when the U of S and U of A get together,” offered Bears head coach Eric Thurston. “It might be Sept. 1 and an exhibition game and there’s still no such thing as a nothing game.” There’s another reason to win. It could mean a more favourable round-robin pool at nationals. “We really have a mind-set that we really need to win — we’d really like to win — a Canada West championship and get that No. 1 seed,” said Huskies forward Dean Beuker. “That’s a big difference and a big stepping stone going there. We’re going to get some momentum playing in their building. It helps with nationals being there. You get comfortable playing in their rink, get used to being there again.”

“It’s too bad that we can’t play one here (Saskatoon), but maybe the people of Saskatoon will have to drive a little bit.”

The Huskies swept the Manitoba Bisons in two straight in the Canada West semi-final.

Some players have emerged from scoring slumps. Keegan McAvoy has regained his scoring touch in recent games. Ditto for Jeff Schmidt and Mason Wallin.

“Me and Keegan have been snake-bit since the new year, but we’re getting chances,” offered Schmidt. “It’s nice to see we both got on the scoresheet.”

Added Beuker: “When you get your secondary scoring from everybody, it takes the pressure off players and guys play better. You play as team. We did that (against Manitoba). We found ways to win and that’s all you’ve got to do.”

The Dogs did display some lapses and mental mistakes, however. Is that a concern?

“Yes and no,” answered Beuker. “There are things that need to be addressed in practice as we get working. We hadn’t played in three weeks and I thought sometimes our mindsets weren’t there. There weren’t physical mistakes; they were mental. And mental mistakes can be fixed. That’s the big thing.

“We got a lot of positives from guys who stepped up: (Thomas) Vicars, (Dean) Serdachny and seeing (Garett) Soparlo back in the lineup.”

dzary@sp.canwest.com