Huskies mauled by Bears
By Darren Zary of The StarPhoenix
Bears 6, Huskies 1
Dean Beuker blasted a short-handed slapshot past Aaron Sorochan to give the University of Saskatchewan Huskies a short-lived 1-0 lead Saturday against the hometown Alberta Golden Bears.
As it turns out, it was the only goal the Huskies scored against the Bears in the best-of-three Canada West men’s hockey final. Alberta scored six unanswered goals — four in the second period — on its way to a 6-1 victory and two-game sweep.
It was Alberta’s sixth-straight Canada West title and fifth in a row over Saskatchewan.
Both teams had already qualified for
the Telus University Cup national tournament, March 23-26 in Edmonton, but a Canada West banner was up for grabs, plus a favourable seeding and pool at nationals.
“We were up 1-0 and rather than play our game, we went a little bit north and south,” said U of S coach Dave Adolph. “We opened it up and that’s a bad team to open it up against.”
Harlan Anderson, with two, Brad Tutschek, Brian Ballman, Dylan Stanley and Chris Ovington scored for the Bears, who got a stellar performance from Canada West rookie of the year Aaron Sorochan, who stopped 49 of 50 Saskatchewan shots on the weekend.
“I’m concerned about the way we played like grumpy old men,” said Adolph. “We really did play an old man’s game, like we were in the 45-and-over rec league. We didn’t skate. We kind of did it all one by one (and not as a team). “And we took 41 of 46 penalty minutes in the third period — that’s the grumpy part.”
The Golden Bears, defending national champions, scored three power-play goals on 14 chances. The Dogs were 0-for-8.
“I was very proud of how our guys remained disciplined throughout the game,” Alberta coach Eric Thurston told U of A sports information officer Bob Stauffer.
The Bears outshot the Huskies 47-28. Attendance was 2,568.
DOG TALES: Alberta and Saskatchewan will be joined in the six-team national tournament by Atlantic champion Acadia, Ontario/Quebec (OUA) champion Lakehead, OUA runner-up McGill and OUA wild-card Wilfrid Laurier.
