Huskies 5, Bears 4 (OT) Huskies’ power play breaks out
Huskies 5, Bears 4 (OT)
By Darren Zary of The StarPhoenix
dzary@sp.canwest.com
While it may have been victory No. 7 for the University of Saskatchewan hockey Huskies this season, this one was clearly driven by a V-8 engine.
It took just eight seconds for the Huskies’ floundering power play — 0-for-13 in its last appearance and 1-for-27 last weekend — to find the mark against the Alberta Golden Bears on Friday night at Rutherford Rink.
That set the tone. The Dogs then put the pedal to the metal as they wheeled their way to a 4-1 lead, then barely avoided a late car wreck in scoring a 5-4 overtime victory over the Bears, the two-time defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport national champions.
Rookie Brett Novak netted the winner with 1:42 remaining in OT.
“It always feels good to score, but an OT winner is even nicer,” Novak said. “More importantly, we got the two points.
“It was nice to see we can beat those guys.”
Alberta, ranked No. 1 in CIS men’s hockey, had its Canada West conference record fall to 8-1-0-2. Saskatchewan, ranked No. 10, is 7-5-0-1. The teams meet again tonight at 7 p.m. Jeff Schmidt tapped in a rebound at 5:12 of the opening period — just eight seconds into Saskatchewan’s first power play — to give his team a spark. “It’s no secret our power play has been really struggling lately,” said Schmidt. “We’ve been trying to do a little too much. We just got down to the basics.” Mark Hinz, trailing on an odd-man rush, scored the Dogs’ second goal with a wrist shot to the top corner. Kyle Fecho replied for the Bears. Mason Wallin roofed a loose puck to make it 3-1 with 5:34 remaining in the opening frame. The Huskies jumped out to a 4-1 lead early in the second period with another power-play goal by Schmidt. He pounced on a rebound at the side of the net. Then the Dogs got sloppy.
Bears winger Ian McDonald roofed a shot to the top corner past goalie Jeff Harvey at 11:53 to make it 4-2. A cherry-picking Ben Kilgour caught the Huskies napping during a power play. Hiding behind the U of S defenders at Saskatchewan’s blue-line, Kilgour took a long pass and went in all alone on Harvey. Kilgour made no mistake with a short-handed tally. That cut the Huskies’ lead to 4-3 after two periods.
Bears D-man Derek Price knotted the score at 4-4 with a power-play marker at 10:43 of the third.
“They’re a very opportunistic team and it’s hard to ever keep them out of a game,” said U of S coach Dave Adolph.
“The key is we did get out of the gate tonight and we played with a little bit of confidence.”
Alberta was 2-for-8 on the power play. Saskatchewan was 2-for-4.
“We didn’t quit, but with a good team like Saskatchewan, you can’t spot them a 4-1 lead and expect to come out of the positive side,” said Bears coach Eric Thurston. “You’re playing a little bit of Russian roulette.
“We’re a very young team. Our inexperience shows a little bit. We didn’t quit. It’s a refl ection on how thin the line is. You’ve got to play hard for 60 minutes and make sure you do those little things right.”
BREAKAWAYS: Wallin of the Huskies has been named Husky Oil WHL graduate of the month for October in the Canada West conference. Wallin, a 24-year-old commerce student, receives a cheque for $500 from the WHL to go toward the cost of his education and a gift from Husky.
