Huskies win overtime thriller...
Take 1-0 series lead over Calgary Dinos
Mar 02
After a torrid start by the hometown University of Saskatchewan Huskies, their opponents, the University of Calgary Dinos staged a comeback to force overtime at Rutherford Rink in Saskatoon on Friday night. Having not played for three weeks, the Dogs came out of the gates with an energy they haven't had all year, and quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period of play. With no scoring in the second period the Dinos would have to mount a heroic effort in the third, and did just that. After a quick score to start the third, the Dinos would knot the game at 2's with just 3:25 left. The Huskies didn't panic however, and with 5:33 left in overtime found a way to win the game, as the Dog's Colin Patterson split through the Calgary defense, faked out a charging Dinos goalie, and deposited the puck into an empty net.
The latest Huskies hero had these words after the game.
"I was just going in and looked up and had an empty net; more than anything I made sure that I controlled the puck and put it in because the ice was pretty bad tonight. I was pretty sure I had it the whole way though once I got in close."
In the first period the Huskies showed no signs of rust after having not played for three consecutive weeks; in fact, they were as good as they've been all year, if not better. In the first 10 minutes it was everything the Dinos could do to keep the Huskies off the score sheet, as Calgary's goalie, Scott Talbot made one sparkling save after another. The Dogs would open up the games scoring however, as local boy Brad Erikson collected a rebound and ripped a drive past Talbot. With the Huskies having all the momentum, they quickly went on a power play and made it 2-0, when Mark Hinz took a seeing-eye point shot that bulged the twine. Gathering assists on the goal were the Huskies Brent Twordik and Brett Novak. After one period of play the Huskies were quickly out in front 2-0, but the score could have been much worse if it were not for the Dinos goal-tender Scott Talbot.
In the second period both teams settled into the rhythm of the game, not taking too many chances on offense while playing solid positional hockey. After a fantastic save by the Huskies Jeff Harvey early in the period, the Dogs shut-down Calgary and trapped the neutral zone for much of the remainder of play in the second frame. What was happening however was the Huskies were quickly becoming fatigued after not playing a game in quite a while, this caused some concern heading to the third period.
With the Huskies looking a little sluggish, the Dinos took full advantage in the final frame early on. Just 2:09 seconds into the period Calgary's Ryan Annesley batted a rebound out of the air to break the Huskies shutout bid. With a rejuvenated Dinos squad quickly gaining momentum, the Huskies just held on shift after shift as Calgary continued to charge. With just 3:25 left in the third however, the inevitable happened as on a power play, the Dinos Tyrel Lucas let go an innocent looking point shot that traveled through four players and found the top right-hand corner. From there, both teams played conservative knowing that overtime was looming.
In overtime, the Huskies once again started off looking very tired, as Calgary continually applied pressure, causing the Dogs to cough up the puck in their own zone. With the Green and White reeling, one Huskie stepped up. Saskatchewan's Colin Patterson picked up the puck in the neutral zone, split two Calgary defenders, bobbled the puck a bit ahead of him, and out of the Dinos net charged Talbot. His timing was completely off as Patterson pulled the puck by him, and slipped the disc into a waning cage. The 567 patrons on hand rose to their feet in jubilation as they their hometown Dogs opened with a first game series win.
After the game a torn Huskies head coach Dave Adolph had these words.
" I think that you if you compare the first period to the last two you will see two totally different teams out there. We weren't all that sure of how we were going to come out tonight; after three weeks off you think the rust is going to be the problem, and really wasn't in the first," says Adolph. "Calgary is a very determined team and you saw how hard they played; they want to be going were we want to be going."
These same two teams will meet again Saturday night at Rutherford Rink in Saskatoon, with the hometown Huskies looking to close out the Canada West Semi-Finals with a win over the Calgary Dinos.
Game Story by: Devin Heroux - Sports Information Student Assistant
