Photo: Matthew Merkel/Huskie Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

big road win

Men’s hockey Huskies earn important split against Alberta

Nov 23, 2024 | 11:38 PM

The Huskies men’s hockey team would not be denied again, as they bounced back from a frustrating loss one night earlier to down the Alberta Golden Bears 5-3 in Saturday’s rematch at Clare Drake Arena, earning a split of their weekend series and keeping the Bears from clinching the head-to-head season series.

Josh Pillar scored twice and added one assist to lead the attack as the Huskies erased an early one-goal deficit to hand the Golden Bears their first home loss of the season and just their second defeat overall.

“I thought we worked really hard tonight. We were blocking shots, I thought we were doing all the right things, so it paid off,” Pillar said.

For the fourth time in four meetings this season, the Golden Bears opened the scoring with Sean Tschigerl netting a power play goal midway through the opening period after a failed Huskies clearing attempt. Alberta outshot Saskatchewan 10-5 in the first and the Dogs looked like they could be facing a case of deja vu after dropping their first three matchups with the Bears.

But in the second, the Huskies offence began to click and fittingly, it was their energy line providing the necessary dosage, as Ben Tkachuk buried a loose puck off a goalmouth scramble for his fourth goal of the season to tie the game early in the frame.

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After being whistled for three penalties in the first, the Huskies then earned the next three power plays and late in the second one, Pillar sped into the Golden Bears zone and sizzled a wrist shot past goaltender Tyler Palmer, giving Saskatchewan its first lead against Alberta this season.

The Dogs carried that advantage into the third period and five and a half minutes in, Carter Stebbings potted a rebound for the Huskies second power play goal of the night to give them a two-goal cushion.

That lead was short-lived, however as Sam Popowich tipped home his first career USPORTS goal just 22 seconds later to draw the Bears back within one. But the Huskies did not bow under the pressure, and with just over two minutes remaining, Pillar pounced on a turnover in the Alberta zone and ripped another wrist shot into the net for what proved to be a key goal, as Connor McClennon, who had a hat trick on Friday, scored with 59 seconds left to give the Bears hope.

But the Huskies were determined to close the door, and close it they did as captain Justin Ball, who had returned from a pre-season ankle injury to play his first game of the year the night before, fired the puck into an empty Alberta net to salt away the win with 23 seconds left.

The Huskies outshot the Golden Bears 27-26 on the night as Jordan Kooy made 23 saves for his sixth win of the season. Palmer stopped 22 shots in defeat. With the victory, the Dogs improved to 10-4 and moved back within four points of the 12-2 Bears for top spot in the East Division at the halfway mark of the campaign. The rivals will square off twice more on January 24 and 25 in Saskatoon.

“It’s huge. We needed that win tonight. We need to beat them two more times so we can have a shot at coming first in our division,” Pillar said.

The Dogs will close out their first semester schedule on home ice next weekend with a pair of games against the MacEwan Griffins, who sit four points behind the Huskies in third place after a shootout loss to the Regina Cougars on Saturday. Both contests can be heard on HuskieFAN.

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X: @RFlaherty pxp