Photo courtesy: Rachel Albertson/Huskie Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

maier wins debut

Huskies stun Bisons with late comeback victory

Jan 10, 2026 | 10:03 PM

The Huskies men’s hockey team is developing a flair for the dramatic. For a second straight game, the Dogs erased a two-goal deficit in the third period en route to a 5-4 win over the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday at Wayne Fleming Arena.

Dawson Holt scored twice on the power play and added two assists including the primary helper on Winnipeg native Conner Roulette’s game winner in the final minute of regulation, while Nolan Maier earned the win in his first start as a Huskie as Saskatchewan completed a sweep of the weekend series and claimed the season series with Manitoba, 3-1.

“There’s lots of ups and downs with emotions and sometimes you let emotions get the best of you but I just think as a team just being resilient and finding ways to come together, although the emotions get high you’ve also got to be able to bring them down and I think we did that as a team and we just stuck with it,” Roulette said.

After being held off the scoreboard through the first two periods on Friday, the Dogs were looking for a stronger start in the rematch and they delivered with Liam Keeler scoring his fifth goal of the season midway through the opening period.

The Bisons responded, however, as Blake Swetlikoff and Skyler Bruce tallied in a span of less than three minutes to put the home side on top. But before the end of the frame, Holt replied on the power play with his seventh of the season, sending the teams to the dressing room tied at two after an entertaining 20 minutes of action.

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The scoring slowed in the second as Manitoba’s Lucas Brennan netted the only goal of the period with just over a minute remaining, pushing the hosts back in front.

When Bruce buried his second of the game on a Bisons power play 11 minutes into the third, it began to look like the Dogs might be destined for defeat but the defending Canada West champs redoubled their efforts and with just over five minutes remaining, Holt broke in alone on the Manitoba goal and roofed a backhand for his second of the game to pull Saskatchewan back within one.

The visitors kept coming and less than two minutes later, Roulette stole the puck deep in Bisons territory then fed it to Holt, who curled out of the left wing corner before finding Logan Bairos in the slot. The second-year defenceman did the rest, burying his first goal of the season and first since recording a hat trick in his very first game as a Huskie.

A second straight night of overtime hockey was looming but the Dogs had other plans. After breaking up a clearing attempt at the right point, Roulette drifted into the middle of the ice and took a pass from Holt before sniping his tenth goal of the year with 46.5 seconds left on the clock to complete the comeback.

“It felt good. I had a lot of friends and family in town watching. There’s no better way to put it than just being really happy for it. It’s huge to get two big points on the road and come out with two big wins on the weekend. Just happy to be a part of it and happy that everyone got to come out and watch,” Roulette said.

Saskatchewan outshot Manitoba 40-25 on the night and scored twice on five power plays while the Herd were one-for-four on the man advantage. On his 25th birthday, Maier made 21 saves to win his first start since joining the Huskies over the semester break.

The Dogs are now 13-4-1 on the season ahead of a massive series in Calgary against the Mount Royal Cougars, who sit one point ahead of Saskatchewan for second place in the East Division after sweeping the UBC Thunderbirds with a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday.

The Huskies and Cougars will square off next Friday and Saturday at Flames Community Arenas. Fans can catch the live broadcast of both games on the free HuskieFAN app.

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