The University of Alberta Golden Bears skate past the University of Saskatchewan Huskies bench as they celebrate a goal, on their way to a 4-2 victory at Merlis Belsher Place on Friday night. (Katie Brickman-Young/HuskieFAN)

By Katie Brickman-Young

Team loses critical game, drops in standings

Huskies men’s hockey dropped by Golden Bears

Jan 21, 2022 | 10:32 PM

Every loss stings, but when given the opportunity to come away with a victory, it hurts a little more than usual.

After a solid start for University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team, they couldn’t find a way to diffuse the University of Alberta Golden Bears, as they were defeated 4-2 on Friday night at Merlis Belsher Place, their first loss at home this season.

“They all suck pretty bad,” said Connor Hobbs, Huskies defenseman on losing. “I thought that we played really well in a lot of areas and when you play really well and still can’t find a way to win, I guess it is a little more frustrating.”

The Huskies opened the game with a lot of energy, which they had to manufacture themselves as spectators were not allowed in the arena for the game.

It was the Golden Bears that got on the board first, when Noah Philp potted a backhand shot off the rebound past Huskies’ goaltender Roddy Ross midway through the first period. Ross finished with 25 saves on 29 shots.

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“I thought Roddy Ross played good,” said Mike Babcock, head coach of the Huskies. “He gave us a chance and that’s all you can ask.”

Saskatchewan had the majority of the chances and possession time in the opening frame as they outshot the visitors 14-7.

The Huskies appeared to rebound quickly, with Wyatt Johnson scoring his third of the season just 12 seconds into the middle frame. Johnson was able to beat Nick Schneider stick side in close to tie the game up. Schneider finished with 40 saves on 42 shots.

But mental lapses, struggling through transition in the neutral zone and lack of discipline had the Huskies on their heels throughout the second period.

The Golden Bears got goals from Eric Florchuk at even strength, and then Philp notched his second of the game on the power play and less than a minute later, Luc Smith padded their lead with another power play marker.

“I thought we started well and lost the special teams battle,” said Babcock. “We gave them two gifts on the power play, and we gave them a gift on the turnover. I didn’t like that part, but I liked a lot of what we did.”

The Huskies went 0-for-5 on the man advantage – they had their chances, particularly on a 5-on-3 in the second period but couldn’t beat Schneider.

“We got to find a way to bury pucks,” said Hobbs. “We just have to find a way to put it in the net. You can’t win if you can’t score.”

Once the Golden Bears took the lead, the Huskies got away from their structure and struggled to regain their earlier momentum, a takeaway lesson from a good team like the University of Alberta, who doesn’t give up many chances.

“Once we started chasing the game, I thought we got loose, and I didn’t like that part of the game,” said Babcock. “Bottom line is you have to do things the way you planned. You can’t adlib … you have to stay within your structure. Anyway, you look at, in hockey, you have to take care of the puck.”

The Huskies looked to close the gap in the third period as Vince Loschiavo scored his fourth of the year on a broken play in the neutral zone that the Huskies took control of.

It wasn’t enough to cue the comeback as the Huskies now sit 10-5 on the season.

The loss marks the first one at home this season for the Huskies and the loss allowed the Golden Bears to leapfrog them in the Canada West standings as well. The Golden Bears now sit tied for first place with the UBC Thunderbirds.

The team will look to regroup in the second half of the back-to-back on Saturday evening.

“We have to forget about the loss. There’s no time to dwell on it. We need to get a good rest and come back to go and stick to our play,” said Hobbs. “We can’t get away from it just because we lost. We have to trust in ourselves, trust our systems and trust that is it going to click for us, because it will.”

Babcock looks at the loss as a learning lesson and the next game as an opportunity for his team.

“We have an opportunity tomorrow. You want to win all these games and finish first and have home ice advantage [in the playoffs], but what I want to do most is keep getting better and play our best hockey when it matters the most,” he said.

With no spectators allowed at Merlis Belsher Place due to COVID-19 precautions, fans can listen to the game live on the HuskieFAN app or huskiefan.ca.