Hockey Dogs waste golden opportunity

By Darren Zary of The StarPhoenix

T-birds 4, Huskies 3
Multiple opportunities lost.
The University of Saskatchewan men’s hockey team had a chance Saturday to distance itself from the Alberta Golden Bears in the overall Canada West conference standings.
It was served on a mega-sized power-play platter, but the cautious Dogs took only wee, bird-sized bites.
The lack of urgency proved costly as the Huskies were upset 4-3 by the British Columbia Thunderbirds at Rutherford Rink.
Afterward, they were suffering from more than empty stomachs. One could certainly question their appetite for winning.
“We were good the night before on the power play and scored three when we had to; tonight, we were just junk and that cost us the game, plain and simple,” said U of S assistant captain Bryce Thoma.
“We had our chances in the second period to win the game and we didn’t.”
The T-birds had a parade to the penalty box in the second period. Nick Marach picked up three minors during one shift, part of eight straight minors by UBC in one stretch.
The Huskies couldn’t convert. They finished the night 1-for-11 on the power play.
“Other than the first 20 minutes Friday night and the last eight minutes tonight, we did lose our sense of urgency,” said U of S coach Dave Adolph. “(Keegan) McAvoy has a great backdoor play and the guy (UBC goalie Gerry Festa) makes a great save. We go backdoor to Stephen Mann and the puck hops and it just misses the open net. We had lots of chances on our power play and that’s all you really worry about.
“That’s not what caused us our problems. Our mind-set going into this weekend was a little bit lackadaisical and I’m sure everybody saw that Alberta lost (to Regina on Friday night) and we took one foot off the gas. The last eight minutes, we were unbelievable but it was too little, too late.”
Dean Beuker, on a shorthanded effort, Garett Soparlo and Brent Twordik scored for the Dogs.
Dustin Paul, Brad Zanon, Peter Hay and Darrell May scored for the T-birds, who capitalized on three of six power-play chances — two of them during two-man advantages after a five-minute major was assessed to U of S forward Curtis Austring and additional minors were handed to Derek Endicott and Colin Johnson.
“We’re battling hard to turn the corner here, get over a hump,” said Paul, a former Moose Jaw Warrior. “To get this win here is huge because they’re a helluva hockey club. You’ve got to give them every respect, but this time we hung in there and took it to them.
“Festa played unbelievably. We did a really good job on the PK and 5-on-5. Even our power play was clicking tonight.”
Paul called it the biggest win in his four years at UBC. “It sure feels like it. To get a win like this and a little momentum is huge.” Saskatchewan is 15-4-3. UBC is 8-11-1.
“A character win,” said UBC coach Milan Dragicevic. “We haven’t beaten Alberta or Saskatchewan in four years. To be looked upon as one of the better teams in the league you have to beat them.
“It was character, killing those penalties 5-on-3, blocking shots, sacrificing your body and doing every little thing you have to win and then scoring power-play goals in the third period.”
Festa made 37 saves for the ’Birds. Thomas Vicars turned aside 23 for the Dogs.
“It was a frustrating loss,” said Thoma. “It was a bad effort. We only played one out of six periods this weekend. We weren’t prepared to grind it out and they were tough grinding games.”