SASKTOON – The Saskatchewan Huskies secured their 11th Canada West title and first since 2016 as they defeated the UBC Thunderbirds 3-1 in game two of the conference final Saturday night at Merlis Belsher Place.
The Huskies got themselves out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and tacked on another late in the third while finishing the game 2-for-9 on the power play as the Thunderbirds settled for silver but will now perhaps be even hungrier for the upcoming University Cup in Halifax starting March 12
th.
"Obviously we're real disappointed, we came here to win a championship and fell short," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon. "We faced a real hot team, they're a veteran group that knows how to win games. Hopefully we've saved our best for nationals."
Much like the first period in game one the night prior, the Huskies set the pace Saturday scoring twice within a five minute span while outshooting the T-Birds 15-9.
Carson Stadnyk scored his second goal of the series to open scoring seven-and-a-half minutes in, just after a brief Saskatchewan power play expired. Stadnyk fired a shot from the left faceoff circle that was stopped by
Rylan Toth, but the fourth-year forward hustled onto his own rebound and potted it home, sending the sold out Merlis Belsher crowd into a frenzy.
The Huskies doubled their lead on the power play at the 12:29 mark when Levi Cable picked up a rebound at the side of the crease off a Collin Shirley shot from the low slot and tucked it in behind Toth.
After falling down by two, the T-Birds rebounded nicely and held the puck in the Huskies zone for much of the final five minutes of the period. But Saskatchewan did a good job of keeping shots to the outside and chances to a minimum while goaltender Taran Kozun took care of the rest.
Cable potted his second of the game and third of the playoffs late in the second on the power play and once again it was off a rebound as Toth was able to make the initial save on a Layne Young one-timer.
Despite trailing by three heading into the third, the T-Birds were determined to get themselves back in the game but weren't able to generate much until the final few minutes.
Following a skirmish in the T-Birds' zone that saw a total of 24 penalty minutes assessed, UBC ended up on the power play. Desperate to cut into the Huskies lead, the 'Birds put Toth on the bench for the 6-on-4 advantage.
Jake Kryski from high in the zone sent a hard wrister through traffic and past Kozun for his team-leading fourth of the post-season.
Still with more than three minutes remaining, the 'Birds once again got the extra attacker out but weren't able to pull any closer.
The Huskies finished the night outshooting the T-Birds 29-18 as Saskatchewan heads to the national championship tournament as one of the top three seeds.
UBC's conference run has come to an end but their sights are set on an even bigger prize as they're set to compete for the University Cup for the first time since 1977.
"The Mount Royal series, Alberta, this series, it's all real tough, man's hockey," explained Butenschon following the conclusion of an historic run through the Canada West playoffs. "We got to keep that playoff mode going, keep that bittersweet taste in our mouth right now. At nationals you got to land on the ground running so we have to make sure we're focussed right off the bat."
The T-Birds will have to wait until the OUA conference playoffs are complete next weekend to find out who they'll draw in the national quarter-final which will be played either Thursday, March 11
th or Friday, March 12
th at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
