Huskies look for wins against bitter rival

In what could be an early preview of the Canada West men’s hockey final, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies look to steal two wins over the reigning CIS champion University of Alberta Golden Bears on the weekend at Rutherford Rink.

The Huskies sit on top of the Canada West standings with a 5-2-1 record, while the Golden Bears have begun the season 3-1. Alberta’s only loss came to the University of Calgary on October 11 7-1, a night after they had beat the Dinos 6-1. The Huskies have split the last three weekends — first against the University of Regina, then the University of Manitoba and last weekend against the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

In Lethbridge last weekend, five different Huskies scored the six goals on the weekend in a 7-2 loss and a 4-3 win. Alberta enters the games after a 4-0 shutout and a 5-2 win over the UBC Thunderbirds.

Last season, the two teams met four times in the regular season with three of those finished in overtime — all in Alberta’s favour. The other game finished with a 3-1 Alberta victory. They also met again in the Canada West men’s hockey final where the Bears stomped over the Huskies 8-3 and then 5-0.

The Huskies boast the top two scorers in the Canada West. Rookie Steven DaSilva has three goals and 12 assists in eight games this season, and linemate Steven Gillen has seven goals and five assists including a hat trick in a game against Manitoba on October 10. Alberta has five players with five or more points — Ian McDonald (6), Brian Woolger (5), Kyle Fecho (5), Chad Klassen (5) and Shaden Moore (5).

Alberta goaltender Real Cyr has a 2.45 goals against average and a .899 save percentage. Saskatchewan’s netminder Jeff Harvey has a 3.32 GAA and a .863 save percentage with a 3-0-1 record.

Game times are 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday at Rutherford Rink.