Huskies double Bears in playoff opener
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The Huskie men’s hockey team played a complete game in a 4-2 win over the Alberta Golden Bears in the opener of a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final at Merlis Belsher Place on Friday night. The younger players, the veterans, the role players and defenders were solid in the victory. “We were able to roll the lines pretty good,” said head coach Bradin Cote. “Everyone found a way to contribute in some way shape or form even when they were taking (momentum) back a little bit.” First-year Huskie, Raphael Pelletier, opened the scoring at the 11:53 mark of the first period on a quick shot up high on Bear goaltender Ethan Kruger. Saskatchewan outshot Alberta 11-4 in the opening frame.
A first-year Bear responded with the equalizer at the 5:37 mark of the second period. Alex Thacker, who was second in rookie scoring in the regular season tied the game at 1 at 5:37. However, Saskatchewan showed its resilience as Cole Jordan tied the game midway through the second period. Less than a minute later, veteran Justin Ball scored on the power play to make it a 3-1 game after 40 minutes of play. “We didn’t waver and just stuck together”, said Cote.
In the third period, Bear centre Justin Hall, who had 4 points in 4 games against the Huskies in the regular season, scored at 8:54 to cut the Huskie lead to 3-2. U of S snipers stepped up not long after as Liam Keeler pulled a face-off back to Vince Loschiavo who rifled shot past Kruger to make it 4-2 with 7:29 remaining in the third period. (Loschiavo had 32 points in 27 regular season games.)
Huskie goaltender Roddy Ross, who had 11 wins in 15 regular season outings, made 19 stops for the win. Kruger allowed the four goals on 30 Huskie shots. Saskatchewan was 1-for-3 on the power play, Alberta was 0-for-4.
