Hockey Dogs eager to battle Bears
By Darren Zary of The StarPhoenix
The University of Saskatchewan men’s hockey team boarded a bus Thursday night not just because it had to — it actually wanted to.
The destination is Edmonton for an important two-game Canada West conference series against the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
Nothing beats playing the Bears other than, well, beating the Bears in their own backyard — something the Huskies did during the preseason.
Ranked No. 1 in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the Dogs sport a 15-4-3 conference record. The Bears are 14-4-2.
The teams will play tonight and Saturday (8:30 p.m. CST) at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.
“They’re amazing — I’ve always said that,” deadpanned U of S head coach Dave Adolph. “We’re going on the bus, so we might as well go play.”
Nope, there’s no turning back.
This weekend’s series could go a long way to determining the Canada West champion, starting with home-ice advantage during the playoffs.
“Most of the guys have been looking forward to this weekend for weeks because we have six weeks to go and we sort of can control how we finish — first-place overall or second-place overall,” noted Adolph. “Two more points clinches our (Great Plains) Division. There are a lot of things on the line. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we find out. Let’s go play.” The Bears are led by forwards Ben Thomson (13 goals, 10 assists, 23 points), Brad Tutschek (11-11—22), Dylan Stanley (7-12—19), Tim Krymusa (7-8—15 in 11 games), Ben Kilgour (9-5—14 in 14 games) and Justin Wallin (8-4—12).
Chris Ovington (5-12—17), Perry Johnson (1-14—15) and Gavin McLeod anchor the blue-line.
“We’re expecting a typical Saskatchewan-Alberta match-up in their barn,” said Huskies assistant captain Keegan McAvoy. “They’re going to play hard. Their transition game is good. If we give them anything, they’re going to score. If we give power plays away like we have the last few weekends, they’re going to bury us.
We can’t afford to give up 10-11 minutes in penalties a period, killing penalties.
“We’re going to be disciplined . . . whoever plays the hardest for 60 minutes is going to win the hockey game.”
The Dogs counter with the league’s leading scorer Dean Beuker (20-22—42) as well as Brent Twordik (7-21—28), McAvoy (2-18—20), Trent Adamus (11-8—19), Matt Girling (9-9—18) and Curtis Austring (7-11—18) up front. Derek Endicott (3-7—10) has blossomed into the team’s top blueliner.
“We won’t be able to match four lines, necessarily, with Alberta but we couldn’t last year, or the year before, or the year before, according to most people,” said Adolph, whose team will introduce hard-nosed Dman Dean Serdachny to the Bears.
“I think we’re fine.”
DOG TALES: F Garett Soparlo is out for three to four weeks with a separated shoulder . . . . The games are broadcast on Internet from Clare Drake Arena at 8:30 p.m. (Saskatchewan time) on FM 88.5 CJSR, with Bob Stauffer of the University of Alberta doing play-by-play. Click on www. cjsr.ualberta.ca/ . . . The U of S women’s volleyball team is the only Huskie team at home this weekend. They play host to the Alberta Pandas, who placed fourth at last year’s CIS national championship in Saskatoon.
dzary@sp.canwest.com
