Courtesy: Huskie Athletics

By Wray Morrison

T-Birds post road win at Merlis Belsher Place

Kaeden Lane gets shutout for UBC

Jan 14, 2023 | 12:07 AM

The first home game of 2023 didn’t go as planned for the U of S Huskies men’s hockey team. The UBC Thunderbirds blanked Saskatchewan 1-0 at Merlis Belsher Place on Friday night. The T-Birds had an impressive start outshooting the home side 14-6 in the first period. The lone goal of the game came from Jordan Sandhu at the 13:49 mark of the first period.

“We sat back and watched too much at the start”, said head coach Brandin Cote. “I thought we got our legs under us halfway through the game, but too little too late.” In the second period the Huskies started to generate some sustained pressure but weren’t able to beat UBC goaltender Kaeden Lane, who made 27 saves for the shut out.

“We’ve got to find ways to find those loose pucks”, said Cote. “We’re missing some offensive guys for sure, but we have to score by committee. Forward Jared Dmytriw, who has 27 points in 20 games this season, is representing Canada at the FISU Games in Lake Placid, New York. “We’ve got to score ugly”, continued Cote.

With the victory, the fifth place Thunderbirds pulled to within four points of the Huskies in the Canada West standings. “They’re a fast team”, said Huskies second year defenseman Ty Prefontaine. “The pucks were bouncing over our sticks and we hit a few posts. It really didn’t want to go in for us tonight.”

Looking ahead to game two of the series, the game plan is simple according to Prefontaine. “We have to get greasy and put them in beside the net.” The second game is set for Saturday night at 7pm at Merlis Belsher Place and can be heard at www.huskiefan.ca.

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Following the game, the University of Saskatchewan, Huskie Athletics and the Huskie Alumni Foundation announced formation of the Huskie Men’s Hockey Excellence Fund. The goal is to raise $5 million for a fund to draw interest from to stabilize finances for the program. Alumni Mike Babcock, Merlis Belsher, Glen Hawker and Portland Winterhawks managing partner Kerry Preete, from Melfort, are among those to put initial money in to the fund.

“I have to give credit to Mike Babcock”, said Preete. “He came up with the idea that we have to find a way to create a sustainable funding model. We want to build it to a level that from an interest standpoint, enough money is there to fund the program and do some things it really takes to be in that top three in the country.”

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wray.morrison@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @wraymorrison