Huskies head coach Brandin Cote runs the bench during the team's 5-4 win over Regina on January 5, 2024.Photo Electric Umbrella/Liam Richards

By Ryan Flaherty

games to be rescheduled

Travel troubles put Huskies game plans on ice

Jan 15, 2024 | 1:20 PM

Instead of playing hockey over the weekend, the Huskies men’s hockey team was forced to live through a real-world rendition of the classic comedy “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” but instead of laughter, this version of the movie mostly elicited frustration.

The Huskies were supposed to play two games against the Trinity Western Spartans in Langley, B.C. last Friday and Saturday, but the frigid winter weather that swept across large swaths of western Canada and the northern United States led to a cascade of flight cancellations that prevented the team from reaching its destination.

Setting out last Thursday, the Dogs planned to fly from Saskatoon to Calgary, then take a connecting flight to Abbotsford, B.C., where a bus would pick them up and take them to Langley. The trip got off to an ominous start with the initial flight being delayed nearly three hours and by the time the team arrived in Calgary its connecting flight had already been canceled.

Efforts to get the team on a later flight proved fruitless, so the Huskies hunkered down for the night at a Calgary hotel with hopes of getting to B.C. the next night and playing the Spartans on Saturday and Sunday. As luck would have it, the Huskies volleyball teams were also in Calgary to face the Mount Royal Cougars over the weekend, and they were able to provide a bus to transport the men’s hockey team from the airport to the hotel.

With the next available flight to the Lower Mainland not scheduled to take off until late Friday night, the Huskies spent the next day finding ways to occupy their time, with some players even taking in an afternoon WHL game between the Calgary Hitmen and Spokane Chiefs. Meanwhile coaches and players alike had their eyes glued to their phones for updates on flight arrival and departure times, crossing their fingers that they would be able to get to their ultimate destination.

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However, Mother Nature and the airline industry had other plans, and shortly after checking in for their rescheduled flight, the Huskies learned that it, too, had been canceled.

While many of the Huskies players and coaches have had to deal with travel headaches at some point in their hockey careers, most acknowledged that this latest experience was unique. Veteran Huskie Jeff Faith noted that when he played with Spokane, traveling by bus across the state of Washington through the mountains to Seattle and Everett came with its own issues, but nothing he could recall that forced multiple game postponements.

By the time the Dogs returned to the hotel from the airport it had become apparent that playing hockey that weekend was very unlikely, and plans were made to return home. Instead of preparing for what should have been the second game of their series against TWU on Saturday, the team boarded a bus and headed back to Saskatoon.

Discussions are ongoing between the Huskies, Spartans and Canada West officials about when the postponed games will be played. Complicating matters is the fact that there are no bye weeks left on the schedule for either team between now and the start of the playoffs on February 16. With both teams still competing for playoff position, and the Huskies in particular battling for the chance to host a post-season series, it’s critical that the games be made up.

A variety of scenarios are being explored with the most likely seeing the Huskies travel to Langley to play on a Monday and Tuesday in the coming weeks. The Dogs remaining schedule is as follows: at MacEwan (January 19/20), home to Alberta (January 26/27), at Mount Royal (February 2/3) and home to Manitoba (February 9/10).

The Spartans remaining schedule includes a home-and-home set with UBC this coming weekend and home series against Manitoba (January 26/27) and Alberta (February 9/10) sandwiched around a trip to Regina (February 2/3).

As a result of the postponements, the Huskies now hold four games in hand over UBC, Calgary and Alberta, who respectively occupy the top three positions in the conference standings, and two games in hand over fourth-place Mount Royal. Saskatchewan currently sits in fifth place with a 13-5 record, four points back of MRU (15-5) and six back of Alberta (15-5-2).

Barring any further travel headaches, the Dogs will be back in action Friday night at 7 p.m. MST (8 p.m. in Saskatchewan) when they face the MacEwan Griffins at Downtown Community Arena in Edmonton. The game can be heard on huskiefan.ca and the free HuskieFAN app.

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Twitter/X: @RFlahertypxp