Courtesy; Huskie Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

Saskatchewan lets third period lead get away

Saturday, 5pm re-match between Dinos and Huskies at MBP

Dec 2, 2022 | 11:31 PM

The Huskies men’s hockey team had the top team in their conference on the ropes but couldn’t deliver the knockout blow, losing 5-4 in overtime to the Calgary Dinos on Friday night at Merlis Belsher Place.

Saskatchewan led 4-2 with under six minutes to play in regulation but Arjun Atwal and Riley Stotts scored 41 seconds apart to erase the deficit before Jake Gricius tallied the winner in the second overtime period.

“We talked about closing out games. Didn’t do that tonight, unfortunately. We sat back. I don’t know what it was. We talked about not turning the puck over and we did, and it cost us two goals for sure. Anything can happen in overtime but we just didn’t play consistent enough to get the two points,” head coach Brandin Cote said.

Calgary’s 12^th consecutive win overshadowed a strong performance by the Huskies special teams. The Dogs scored on both of their man advantages and killed off all four Dino power play opportunities including a five-minute major after Jeff Faith was called for checking from behind. Jared Dmytriw even scored his third shorthanded goal of the season during the major.

But five-on-five was a different story and the Huskies play at even strength this season is becoming a bit of a sore spot for Cote.

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“That’s been an Achilles heel for us all year. We gotta score more five-on-five. We’ve worked on a few different things there but the reality is, where all the goals are scored is right in front of the net in the slot area, so we have to get there more consistently and be more hungry around their net,” he said.

Trailing the first-place Dinos by four points coming into the final weekend before the semester break, the Huskies had a chance to catch Calgary with a pair of regulation wins. That opportunity has now gone by the wayside, although the Dogs were able to salvage a point in the loss.

Saskatchewan is now 1-3 in overtime this season, all on home ice.

Jaxan Kaluski opened the scoring with his 10^th goal of the season but Calgary grabbed a 2-1 lead after one period on goals by Jaeger White and Bradley Schoonbaert, the latter extending his goal-scoring streak to five games.

The second period was all Saskatchewan. Mark Rumsey leveled the score with his third goal of the year before Dmytriw’s shorthanded marker put the Huskies in front. Connor Hobbs added to the lead with a power play goal to make it 4-2 after two.

But the Dogs couldn’t hang on in the third, falling to 10-4-3 with the loss.

The teams will meet again on Saturday to wrap up the first semester schedule, with puck drop set for 5 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place.

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Twitter: @RFlahertypxp