Huskies’ recruit Da Silva looks as good as gold
Huskies 4, Cougars 3
Jeff Harvey, a spectator on this night, just smiled and shook his head in amazement after watching hot shot rookie Steven Da Silva put on a dazzling scoring display Saturday against the University of Regina Cougars.
Da Silva netted a hat trick, including the winner with 1:37 remaining on a breakaway after he snuck behind the Cougars’ defence. Da Silva received a long pass from linemate Casey Lee, then roofed a backhand behind Regina goalie Brant Hilton on a deke as the Saskatchewan Huskies closed out the Huskie Alumni Hockey Classic with a 4-3 win at Rutherford Rink.
“Just like Dean Beuker used to do,” said Harvey, a former Canada West conference all-star goalie with the Huskies.
“A lot of guys are highly touted, but this kid is going to live up to that billing . . . Teams are going to try and key on him, but it’s going to open up the ice for other guys.”
Lee was Casey Glee, appreciating the fact he is pegged to be Da Silva’s linemate this season.
“It’s a lot of fun out there,” said Lee. “Steven is a natural goal-scorer. You just give him the puck and watch his skill and talent do the work.”
Two of Da Silva’s goals came on the power play; all three were highlight reel material. He had 40 goals and 49 assists in 68 games last season with the Western Hockey League’s Kootenay Ice, where his teammates included fellow Huskies rookies Chad Greenan and Zach Sim.
“It takes some time to get adjusted,” said Da Silva, who turned down a free-agent tryout offer with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks earlier this month. “Last weekend was kind of feel it out and get used to it. This weekend, I really tried to play more of a role in a game. Getting a couple of nice passes, I just had to put the puck in the net. A couple of great passes from Gilly (Steve Gillen) and Casey, I just did the easy part.”
Trent Adamus scored the other goal for Saskatchewan, which outshot Regina 3129.
“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” said U of S coach Dave Adolph. “We really haven’t worked on our power play. By default, we worked on our penalty kill all weekend. That’s an area that has to be really good for us.
“What you saw and what we expected is that it’s going to be a hell of a league again this year. Our young guys are going to get better as they go. The hardest part for me is reinforcing how gritty we have to be and that was a gritty third period.”
Saskatchewan closed out the pre-season with a 2-1-1 record.
“We changed our lineup every night out of the four games we played,” Adolph said. “We took six guys out Friday and put seven new guys in (Saturday). Unfortunately, with 26 or 27 guys, not everybody’s going to be a part of it over the next little while, but our leadership will emerge. More importantly, so will our work ethic.”
And, unlike past years, scoring should not be a problem.
“Not with Da Silva around,” said Adamus, one of two fifth-year Huskies on the squad. “We’ll just feed him the puck.”
DOG TALES: The Huskies open the Canada West conference regular season Friday against the Manitoba Bisons at Rutherford Rink. Game time is 7 p.m. . . . The defending national champion Alberta Golden Bears won the preseason tournament with a 2-0 record. Both Saskatchewan and Regina were 11. Manitoba, which fell 2-1 to Alberta on Saturday, was 0-2.
dzary@sp.canwest.com
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