Treasure chest - Lucky bounce aids Dogs’ comeback

By Darren Zary
of The StarPhoenix

Huskies 6, Bisons 5 (OT)

Three goals on the first four shots.

A great start for the University of Manitoba Bisons. Not such a good start for the hometown University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

So, it would come down to how the Dogs would handle some early — and, really, some rather unexpected — adversity.

Trailing 3-zip halfway through the opening period against the visiting Bisons in Game 1 of their best-of three Canada West men’s hockey semi-final, the Dogs battled back.

Dean Beuker finally ended the drama in ugly fashion, scoring the winner off the U of S letters on his chest during a mad scramble at 4:40 of overtime to give the Huskies a hard-fought 6-5 victory.

“It went off my chest,” Beuker said, proudly pointing to his U of S on his jersey. “I didn’t want to glove it, so I let the puck bounce off my chest and it went in.”

Saskatchewan takes a 1-0 lead in the series. Game 2 will be played tonight at Rutherford Rink. Game time is 7 p.m. A third game, if necessary, would be played Sunday at 6 p.m.

Even though the Dogs had early chances in close at the goal-mouth, the Bisons struck first — fast and furious. Former Kindersley Klipper Kevin Saurette scored his first of the night, on the power play, at 3:36. Only 52 seconds later, Warren McCutcheon added another powerplay marker to make it 2-0. Saurette tallied again at 11:21 to give Manitoba a 3-0 cushion and chase starting U of S goalie Jeff Harvey— the top goalie in the Canada West — from the net.

The comeback began only 38 seconds later when Curtis Austring hit the scoresheet for the Dogs. Captain Brent Twordik scored at 16:42 to cut the Bisons’ lead to 3-2.

That ended an interruption-filled and penalty-marred first period which took nearly 40 minutes to play, featured 30 faceoffs and nine power plays.

In the second period, Beuker finished off a two-on-one break for a shorthanded tally at 7:13 to knot the score at 3-3. However, the Bisons bounced right back with yet another power-play goal, this one during a two-man advantage, to regain their lead 31 seconds later.

Twordik tied it up at 4-4 at 17:24, just after a power play elapsed.

In the third, the teams traded goals. Matt Girling gave the Dogs a shortlived 5-4 lead, roofing a rebound at 4:02. Eric Froystad pounced on a Saskatchewan turnover off the wall and beat Thomas Vicars to the glove-hand corner at 12:41 to send the game into OT.

Manitoba, which did not score a 5-on-5 goal until the third period, was 3-for-9 on the power play and scored another on a 4-on-4. Saskatchewan was 0-for-12 with the extra man.

The Huskies outshot the Bisons 47-26. Krister Toews made 41 saves for Manitoba.
The game took nearly three hours to complete and featured over 100 faceoffs and 21 power plays.

DOG TALES: Fourth-year Huskies forward Dean Beuker is up for Canada West most valuable player. The Canada West’s Sullivan Trophy nominee for the CIS player of the year will be named next week. Beuker is also Saskatchewan’s nominee for the UBC Hockey Alumni Trophy for sportsmanship and ability. Derek Endicott is Saskatchewan’s nominee for the Mervyn (Red) Dutton Trophy, to be given to the outstanding defenceman in the Canada West.