Roddy Ross made five of his 40 saves in overtime and stopped eight Dinos in the shootout to lift the Huskies to a 3-2 win in Calgary. Photo credit: Matt Smith/Electric Umbrella/Huskie Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

shootout victory

Ross steals show as Huskies stay undefeated

Oct 12, 2024 | 12:05 AM

As wins go, they don’t get much gutsier than the one delivered by the Huskies men’s hockey team on Friday. Trailing the Calgary Dinos 2-1 after two periods, the Dogs rallied back for a 3-2 shootout victory at Father David Bauer Arena, and they wouldn’t have done it without a sensational outing from their goaltender, Roddy Ross.

The fourth-year Huskie stopped 40 shots in 65 minutes of action to give Saskatchewan a chance to win that they may not have otherwise had. Ross was at his best in the most critical moments, holding the fort during a lengthy 5-on-3 penalty kill that bridged the third period and overtime, giving the Huskies a shot at victory, and Ethan Regnier delivered it in the eighth round of the shootout.

“A character win for sure. Our first two periods were definitely not what we drew up going into the game but I think it just shows a lot about the resiliency of the group to come back,” assistant coach Jon Barkman said. “Good teams find ways to win and that’s what we did tonight.”

Early on, the Huskies didn’t look nearly as crisp as they did last weekend in a sweep of Regina, mismanaging the puck and allowing the Dinos to outshoot them 17-10 in the opening period. But Ross held firm, keeping the game scoreless after twenty minutes.

The Dogs came out for the second period looking a bit sharper and on a rush into the Dinos zone, Regnier fired a pinpoint pass from the right wing into the slot for Raphael Pelletier, who sniped his second goal of the season past Calgary netminder Carl Tetachuk to put Saskatchewan in front at the 6:26 mark.

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The lead didn’t last long, however, as Dylan Anderson levelled the score just 35 seconds later. The Dinos then wasted no time grabbing a lead of their own, going up 2-1 at 8:30 on a Zach Wytinck power play goal.

In the third, the Huskies seemed to simplify their game and it paid off five seconds after their fourth power play expired as Chantz Petruic teed one up for Vince Loschiavo, whose one-time blast from the high slot eluded Tetachuk to tie the game.

The teams traded chances from there with each failing to convert on a subsequent man advantage. Then, in the final minute of regulation, the Dinos were given a golden opportunity to win the game when Jarrett Penner was whistled for interference and, off the ensuing draw, Ben Tkachuk was called for delay of game, putting the Dogs two men down with 29 seconds remaining. Calgary had a flurry of chances in the dying moments but Ross shut the door.

“All of our goalies have been strong throughout pre-season and this is the benefit of having depth,” Barkman said. “Who’s going to take the net moving forward, I don’t think we know yet, but certainly tonight, Roddy was the star of the show.”

The threat was far from over though as Calgary carried the bulk of the 5-on-3 into overtime, but once again Ross stood tall. He would get no relief though as moments after killing the two-man advantage, the Dogs were penalized again. Despite a number of good looks, however, the Dinos could not bury the winning goal. After outshooting Saskatchewan 5-0 in OT, a shootout was needed.

“Your goaltender’s your best penalty killer and (Ross) did that for us tonight but overall, even on the five-on-three, just keeping it simple and keeping tight and keeping everything to the outside, we did a hell of a job in the overtime,” Barkman said.

With both goaltenders playing well, the pressure was on the shooters and it wasn’t until the eighth round that Regnier finally delivered the winning goal, firing a shot through Tetachuk’s pads.

Calgary outshot Saskatchewan 42-32 on the night and went 1-for-7 on the power play. The Huskies power play was scoreless on six opportunities, including an extended 5-on-3 of their own in the second period.

The victory pushes the Huskies record to 3-0 while the Dinos drop to 2-0-1. The teams will meet again in their final regular season meeting on Saturday at 6 p.m. Listen to the game on huskiefan.ca and the free HuskieFAN app.

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