Courtesy: Liam Richards/Electric Umbrella/Huskie Athletics

By Wray Morrison

20 victories

Bring on the Bears

Feb 10, 2024 | 9:56 PM

For the first time since the 2019-20 season, the Huskie men’s hockey team has hit the 20-win mark. The milestone victory happened on Saturday night as Saskatchewan defeated the Manitoba Bisons 5-2 in the final game of the regular season for both teams. On the heels of a 20-6-1-1 season, and a 4^th-place finish in the Canada West standings, the U of S now prepares for the Canada West playoffs.

3^rd-year Huskie, Chantz Petruic, scored twice to finish the season with 15 goals and 37 points. “I thought there were a lot of guys who chipped in tonight”, said Petruic. The Moose Jaw product opened the scoring at the 13:14 mark. 1:34 later 1^st– year centre Raphael Pelletier scored his 13^th of the season to make it 2-0 after one period of play.

Bisons forward Josh Paulhus, from Saskatoon, cut the Saskatchewan lead to 2-1 early in the second period. Carter Stebbings of the Huskies helped the home side regain the two- goal advantage for a short time, but Paulhus scored his second goal of the game to make it a 3-2 game after 40 minutes.

The Huskies outshot Manitoba 10-6 in the final frame but had to wait for the insurance goal they were looking for. Petruic’s second of the game went into the empty net with just a little over a minute to play. 1^st-year winger, Conher Saleski, rounded out the game’s scoring, burying his first goal as a Huskie with 36 seconds remaining.

3^rd-year goaltender, Jordan Kooy, picked up his 8^th win of the season by making 16 saves. 2^nd-year Bison keeper, Kolby Thornton, turned aside 41 Huskie shots. Saskatchewan was 0-for-1 with the man advantage, Manitoba was 0-for-2. The Bisons finish the regular season with a 5-22 and 1 record and will miss the playoffs.

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Huskie head coach Brandin Cote was asked about hitting the 20-win milestone. “It’s a credit to the guys for the work that they’ve put in”, said Cote. “With the competitiveness of the league, to get to 20, and get home ice, (advantage in the first round of the playoffs) I think we are real happy with where we are at.

Saskatchewan hosts the Alberta Golden Bears in a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series starting Friday, February 16^th at 7pm at Merlis Belsher Place. The Huskies and Bears split their four-game season series. “It’s going to be splitting hairs to find room”, said Cote. “The teams have similar styles of play…speed, tenacity and good goaltending. The Bears finished the regular season with an 18-8 and 2 record, four points behind Saskatchewan.

Petruic and his Huskie teammates are thrilled about the post-season opportunity that lies ahead. “We love each other in there”, he said “This is the tightest team I’ve ever been on in my life. We’re gelling more than I’ve ever seen before. I can’t express how excited we are to show that we are the real deal and that we can get this done.”

The Bear-Huskie best-of-three quarter-final series starts on Friday February 16^th, game two is on the 17^th and if a third game is necessary it will be played on the 18^th, all start at 7pm at Merlis Belsher Place and can be heard on the free HuskieFAN app and at HuskieFAN.ca.

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wray.morrison@pattisonmedia.com

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