Dogs bear down
Huskies finally solve Alberta to win Canada West title
By Darren Zaryof The StarPhoenix
Huskies 4, Bears 3
The joke cycling around Edmonton’s Clare Drake Arena was that the Canada West men’s hockey final had become a little like the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day — as University of Alberta Golden Bears coach Eric Thurston quipped this past week — always with the same beginning and always with the same ending. Sunday’s final scene, however, gives pause for rewind. Little did the Bears know that the ending in the movie does indeed change. The University of Saskatchewan Huskies knew that before they hopped onto the ice Sunday in Game 3 of this year’s Canada West final.
They made sure they followed the Hollywood script with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the two-time defending national champion Bears in Edmonton on Sunday.
Rookie forward Colin Patterson netted the series winner with 2:50 left to lift the Dogs to victory, their first Canada West conference title since 2000. Saskatchewan now advances to the CIS national championship March 22-25 at Moncton, N.B., the same place the Dogs won their first and only one back in 1983. Groundhog Day, no more. “Going into the third OT period (Saturday),” said Huskies head coach Dave Adolph, “the line of the night was from (U of S) assistant coach Larry Grozell; ‘In the movie Groundhog Day, the ending changes.’ ” And so it did. On Sunday, a lot of heart trumped the usual Huskie heartbreak.
“A lot of people back at home were waiting for me to come back, kicking (myself) because we lost to Alberta again,” Adolph said. “We didn’t.”
The Dogs scored three unanswered goals to battle back from a 3-1 deficit.
“It took five years,” McAvoy said after the game, “but I’ll take it. The feeling is unbelievable.”
Playing his final game at Clare Drake, McAvoy opened the scoring at 6:47 on the power play, splitting Alberta’s defence and breaking in alone and putting the puck past goalie Aaron Sorochan.
The Bears bounced back with a pair of power-play goals, the first by D-man Derek Price at 10:19 and the second by D-man Harlan Anderson a back-breaker with just 2.8 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
Alberta upped its lead to 3-1 on yet another power-play goal, this one by Brian Woolger with 4:37 left in the second.
“It looked like the Bear bounce was going to kill us again,” Adolph said. However, Saskatchewan answered in the final minutes on a goal by Mason Wallin. That made it 3-2 after two.
“Then there was little doubt,” said Adolph. “It was just a matter of time before we got a goal. We got No. 3 and then Paddy got loose like he always does.
McAvoy’s second of the game, early in the third, knotted the score at 3-3. That held until Patterson’s winner. Patterson also scored a game-winner in the semifinal against Calgary.
“I’m glad I got it but it didn’t matter who got the winner,” he said. “Twordik’s line was out and McAvoy had a lace problem and came off right away. I came on. The puck went deep in their corner. Tword’s beat their man in the corner and back-handed it out front. “I just got a little shot off and it went low right side.” Alberta was 3-for-4 on the power play, a 75 per cent clip against the top penalty killing unit. Five of the Bears’ seven goals in the series came with the man-advantage. The Huskies were 1-for-6 Sunday and 1-18 in the series.
Huskies 3, Bears 2 (3OT)
In what was one of the longest games in Canada West conference history, Curtis Austring netted the game-winner at 9:16 of a third overtime period to lift the visiting Dogs a 3-2 victory in Game 2 Saturday night before 3,009 fans at Clare Drake.
Austring’s inspirational play was rewarded with a hat trick, sending the Dogs into a frenzy and into a third-anddeciding game Sunday.
The game — which totalled 99 minutes and 16 seconds of play — is the second-longest game in Bear history. A Jan. 21, 1977 conference game between Alberta and Saskatchewan, which lasted through 115 minutes and 50 seconds of play, remains the longest. The Bears won that one 6-5 in Saskatoon after 55 minutes and 50 seconds of OT.
DOG TALES: The Bears were going for their record 46th Canada West title and a record 11th consecutive appearance at CIS nationals. The Huskies’ lone national title came back in 1983 when the team was coached by Dave King . . . The University Cup goes next week in Moncton, where the No.1-ranked Blue Eagles, the No. 4-ranked New Brunswick Varsity Reds, Wilfrid Laurier and UQTR have already qualified.
dzary@sp.canwest.com
