Ty Prefontaine scored the winning goal in the Huskies' 3-1 win over the MacEwan Griffins on Jan. 31 in Edmonton. Photo courtesy: Rachel Alberton/Huskie Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

ten in a row

Huskies’ finishing strength the difference in win over MacEwan

Feb 1, 2025 | 12:34 AM

The third period has been the Huskies men’s hockey team’s best period all season and that was the case once again on Friday as the Dogs scored twice in the final frame to defeat the MacEwan Griffins 3-1 in Edmonton.

Ty Prefontaine netted the eventual game winner 6:39 into the third and Ethan Regnier added the insurance marker with less than five minutes to play, lifting the Huskies to their 10th straight win. The streak is the team’s longest in regular season play since closing out the 2019-20 campaign with 11 consecutive victories.

Friday’s game was a stark contrast to the first two meetings of the season between the Huskies and Griffins, which Saskatchewan won by scores of 6-0 and 10-2. This time, MacEwan put up a better fight but in the end, it was the same result.

“We challenged (the players) in the third period, just to bear down and I thought overall it was a really good period for us,” head coach Brandin Cote said. “There wasn’t really any panic. There was some urgency for sure and we knew they were going to battle right to the end, but we closed it out.”

Chantz Petruic opened the scoring with a power play marker at 15:29 of the first period, jamming a rebound past Griffins netminder Brett Epp for his 16th goal of the season. The fourth-year forward has struck ten times on the man advantage, placing him second in the Canada West. The goal also extended Petruic’s point streak to nine games, with ten goals and seven assists over that span.

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The Huskies outshot the Griffins 14-5 in the opening period but settled for the 1-0 lead heading to intermission. The advantage did not last for long, however, with Logan Dowhaniuk sneaking a sharp angle shot past Roddy Ross 28 seconds into the middle frame to level the score. The teams traded chances throughout the period but the game remained tied heading to the third.

That’s when the Dogs found their finishing kick and the dam would eventually break with Prefontaine’s go-ahead goal as the fourth-year defenceman from Saskatoon snuck in from the point and sniped his fifth goal of the season after taking a pass from Chase Bertholet.

“I knew if this wasn’t going in then I’d be thinking about it for two weeks, so I’m glad I got it through,” Prefontaine said.

The Huskies held firm down the stretch before Regnier’s second goal of the year salted it away. However, despite coming away with the win and outshooting MacEwan 43-21 on the night, players and coach alike agreed it wasn’t their strongest game coming on the heels of last weekend’s impressive home sweep of the archrival Alberta Golden Bears.

“It does take some out of you, so to come (here) and get ready to go and have that same level of energy and intensity can be tough at times, especially when you know you’ve sort of had your way with the opposition,” Cote said.

“I think we put our heart and soul into last weekend, knowing that it meant so much,” Prefontaine added. “Coming into this weekend I think we took it a little bit lightly, but this is a good team we played, they’ve been known to steal some games against the top teams in the league, so we’ll be ready tomorrow more than we were today.”

Still, it’s an important win for the Huskies, enabling them to keep pace with the Golden Bears in the race for first place in the East Division. Alberta defeated Trinity Western 5-0 on Friday, leaving both the Bears and Huskies with 38 points. Saskatchewan has five games left to play while Alberta has only three remaining.

The Huskies will take aim at a season series sweep of MacEwan in Saturday’s rematch, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. MST at Downtown Community Arena. The game can be heard on the free HuskieFAN app.

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