Bears down top-ranked Huskies in CIS final re-match
Alberta’s Dylan Stanley (1st, Edmonton) scored from behind the net midway through the third period as the CIS #3 Golden Bears came back to defeat the top-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies 3-1 in a spirited re-match of the 2005 CIS hockey final, Friday at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.
Joff Kehler (2nd, Edson, AB) and last season’s gold medal game hero, Ben Thomson (3rd, Coaldale, AB), also scored for Alberta, which moves to 15-4-2 in conference play and within one point of the overall conference lead held by the Huskies (15-5-3). Curtis Austring (2nd, Stewart Valley, SK) tallied Saskatchewan’s lone goal.
Bears netminder Aaron Sorochan (1st, Edmonton, AB) outduelled counterpart Jeff Harvey (1st, St. Albert, AB), stopping 24 of 25 Huskies shots for his 11th win on the year. Harvey blocked 21 of 24 directed his way in taking the loss.
Neither team had a goal to show for the opening 20 minutes as both goalies relied on lady luck. Saskatchewan beat Sorochan 4:43 into the game, but officials ruled that the puck had been kicked into the net. Alberta’s Gavin McLeod (5th, Sherwood Park, AB) took a shot from the point that hit the crossbar behind Harvey just before the nine-minute mark. Harvey did however come up huge when needed, stopping a point-blank chance by Ben Kilgour (2nd, Leduc, AB) after a feed from Tim Krymusa (3rd, Morden, MB) sent him in one-on-one.
Austring opened the scoring for the Huskies with a tap-in at 7:21 of the second period on a cross from Keegan McAvoy (4th, Saskatoon), who faked out Sorochan and left him sprawled on the other side of the crease. Thomson evened the score at one on a tic-tac-toe power-play marker at 17:20. Bears defenceman Chris Ovington (5th, Vernon, BC) actually broke his stick on a shot from the point, raced to the bench and was replaced by Harlan Anderson (3rd, Vernon), who had a pass arrive at the same time he did in Ovington’s place. Anderson re-directed the puck to Thomson, who slid it past Harvey from the slot to Harvey’s left.
The Bears got the break of a lifetime when Harvey, the top goalie in Canada West all year, left mere inches of space between himself and the left post as Stanley scrambled behind the net after the puck. Without hesitation Stanley banked one off Harvey’s pads for what proved to be the game-winning goal. Kehler added an insurance marker at 13:09 of the third for a 3-1 Alberta final.
The two teams combined for 60 minutes in penalties, 13 power-play attempts, along with plenty of pushing and shoving after the whistle all night long. Saskatchewan failed to score in the dying minutes of the game with a two-man advantage and Harvey on the bench for an extra attacker.
The CIS top-three matchup resumes Saturday, 7:30 p.m. (Team 1260 radio/live webcast) in their final conference meeting of the season.
