The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men's hockey team finished their season with a 4-3 loss to the University of Calgary Dinos in Canada West quarter-final action. (Katie Brickman-Young/HuskieFAN)

By Katie Brickman-Young

Disappointing finish for men’s hockey team

Huskies season ends with loss to Dinos

Feb 27, 2022 | 11:16 PM

It was a disappointing finish to the season for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.

The Huskies were up-ended by the University of Calgary Dinos 4-3 on Sunday evening in Game 3 of their Canada West quarter-final series and their season is now over.

“Our lack of depth was exposed in this series. I thought we played well in Game 1 and Game 2. I didn’t think we were as good today – they were the better team than we were,” said Mike Babcock, head coach of the Huskies. “In the end, even though we got some breaks, we weren’t able to maintain play at a high enough level. It is disappointing.”

The Dinos had the early energy and jump in the first period. Connor Gutenberg put the Dinos up at the 4:10 mark of the opening frame. The Huskies found themselves in penalty trouble early – they took five penalties, and it disrupted their momentum.

“I thought that in the first period, in particular. That was disappointing, but it is what it is,” said Babcock. “I thought Roddy Ross gave us a chance today, especially in the first period. I didn’t think we executed at a high enough level, and we weren’t able to do enough for him.”

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Calgary would get their second goal midway through the second period from Rily Stotts on the power play.

Vince Loschiavo got the Huskies on the board less than a minute later. He would add a second on the night four minutes after that on the power play to get the equalizer. The teams were tied heading into the third period in a must-win game.

The Huskies took their first lead of game at the seven-minute mark of the third period when Gunner Kinniburgh scored on a soft wrist shot that buckled Dinos’ goaltender Brodan Salmond.

But it wasn’t enough.

Tim Vanstone scored a highlight-reel goal when he deked Huskies’ defender Ty Prefontaine and then deked out Ross to tie the game up again.

“The game was 3-2 and I didn’t like the way the game was going. We made huge mistakes on the Vanstone goal,” said Babcock.

The Dinos scored the eventual game-winner at the 16:07 mark when Max Patterson tipped a shot in the crease behind Ross.

The Huskies had a chance late in the game when the Dinos took a too-many-men penalty but couldn’t score.

“We knew they were going to come with a better effort,” said Gordie Ballhorn, Huskies’ captain. “They are a good team and we expected they would push hard like they did. It came down to the three minutes left – we knew it was going to be tight.”

It was a disappointing loss for the Huskies, who were the reining Hardy Trophy champions from 2019-20. The team dealt with significant injuries throughout the season and a lack of depth hurt the Huskies down the stretch.

“It’s been the theme all year – coming together and playing for one another. We battled right down to the end … you can’t ask for much more,” said Ballhorn. “(Injuries) are part of hockey. Guys go down and we need to have other guys step up. It was a weird season with it cut short due to COVID and some guys didn’t come like they normally would have, but guys stepped up and did their job.”

The season will come to an end for the team and many players were emotional after the loss. The team will evaluate the players they have and look towards a summer of recruiting.

“I know moving ahead, we are going to do a good job at recruiting. We will end up with a lot more depth and keep moving forward,” said Babcock. “The crowds this weekend and the atmosphere in this building and the facilities we have with the school we have; we want to have a top-notch program. We have to keep getting better.”

For some players, they will contemplate their futures, including Ballhorn, who was in his fourth year of eligibility.

“I am so glad I came here, and it was the greatest decision of my life and this season, it sucks to end this way, but looking back, it is going to be fond memories,” he said. “I don’t know what my future holds.”

He was proud to lead this team as captain for this season and was emotional when asked what it meant to be named the leader of the Huskies.

“It was a huge honour. Coming back here in 10 to 20 years and my name is on the wall in there and it is something they can’t ever take away from me,” he said. “Those four years have flown by. We had some great older guys when I came in that set the creed for what it means to be a Huskie, so I tried to pass that through to the young guys.”

As for Babcock and his future with the Huskies – he will take some time to decide what his future looks like.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time and my wife have a deal where we meet at the end of every year and talk about what we are doing next,” he said. “For a long time, we went everywhere and that’s what we had to do. We don’t have to do that anymore, so we will talk about it and get it all sorted out.”

With the victory, the Dinos will now move on to face the University of Alberta Golden Bears in Canada West semifinal action. The Mount Royal Cougars will face off against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in the other semifinal.