Dogs’ power play kicks into gear
University of Saskatchewan Huskies vs. Lakehead Thunderwolves Saturday, Noon, Sask. time Clare Drake Arena Edmonton
—ZARY
EDMONTON — The much-maligned University of Saskatchewan power play finally kicked into gear here Thursday afternoon with three power-play goals on seven opportunities in the Huskies’ 5-1 victory over the Atlantic champion Acadia Axemen.
This is the same power-play unit which had gone 1-for-32 (3.3 per cent efficiency) through the Canada West playoffs and 30-for-201 (14.93 per cent clip) during the regular season.
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“Our power play hasn’t scored in 2 /2 months,” quipped U of S head coach Dave Adolph with slight exaggeration.
The turning point, noted Adolph, was defenceman Colin Johnson’s power-play marker to make it 3-1.
“We’ve been talking about the back-door D on the power play all season. We finally got one.” Adolph wasn’t sure where this new-found “finish” came from.
“We move the puck around like crazy in the offensive zone. We just don’t finish. I asked “Flow” — the (Clare Drake Arena) rink manager here — two days ago if he could pick us up a quart of finish. His observation was that maybe we were putting our (stick) tape on backwards and he’d do his best at the Co-op home hardware to find us some finish.
“Maybe he snuck in and painted our sticks. I don’t know, but we had some finish on our power play tonight.”
Jeff Schmidt, Dean Beuker and Johnson each scored PP goals against Acadia, which had been touted by some members of the Alberta media as the most feared team other than the Golden Bears.
Added Johnson: “It was nice to get it rolling for a change. It’s been going fine, but (the puck) just never seemed to go in the net. Tonight, we found a way to get it in.”
Call it the curse of the CIS MVP award.
A team with the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy winner as the most valuable player in CIS hockey rarely goes on to win the University Cup national championship, as recent history has shown.
The last time it happened was back in 2000 when Russ Hewson was named MVP and the Alberta Bears won the national title in Saskatoon.
Acadia’s Kevin Baker, who was named the CIS MVP here Wednesday night, was practically invisible in Thursday’s game against the U of S prior to his injury halfway through the game.
Baker — who led his team with 172 shots in 28 games during the regular season — didn’t register a single shot on net against the Dogs.
The Dogs shut him down, whether the focus was on Baker or not.
“That’s always a discussion as far as how different coaches coach,” offered Adolph. “We made sure that our best line was against their best line. That’s all we did. I had never seen Kevin Baker play before this, other than on video, but I knew he was outstanding, especially on the power play.
“We made sure that Twordik and Beuker were out against Baker and whoever he came out with. There was no other focus.”
Adolph felt his team simply did the little things better than Acadia.
“You have to really pay attention to so many little things when it’s a one-game shot. I think we paid a little more attention to them than they did. I don’t know that they expected that kind of game from us. The little things won out.
“We always talk about breaking spirits and we did just that.”
Baker is doubtful for today’s game between Acadia and Lakehead.
“He was player of the year,” said Acadia head coach Darren Burns. “It was certainly a big blow.”
