Murray Wood: Drought or deluge, it's Saskatchewan weather
Murray Wood notes that while we have seen years with "perfect" weather in the province, they aren't that commo...
The University of Alberta Golden Bears blanked the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 3-0 in the men’s hockey Canada West final to even the series Saturday in front of 2,653 people at Merlis Belsher Place.
Huskies head coach Dave Adolph was tight-lipped following the game when asked to provide his thoughts, but did turn his attention towards the power play.
“Our power play was ineffective tonight,” he said blankly after his team went 0-for-5 with an extra attacker. “We had a lot of selfish players, and when you have selfish players they don’t share the puck.”
“We got outnumbered when we should have been outnumbering them.”
The Huskies missed a chance to capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play in a first period that largely saw the Golden Bears keep Saskatchewan in its own end for long stretches of time without scoring a goal.
The Golden Bears were able to break the scoring deadlock 19 seconds into the second period when Riley Kieser snapped a shot through two Huskies defenders and over the blocker of goaltender Taran Kozun.
As the Huskies proceeded to hit two posts on their best chances of the period, Adolph blamed himself for the Golden Bears goal that would extend the lead with a little more than six minutes remaining in the period.
Trevor Cox picked the top corner with a one-time shot over Kozun’s glove as he was left alone in front, but Adolph said his choice to send out Wyatt Johnson for a faceoff is what led to his team’s downfall.
“The coach made a grave error. I get one out of five on the rankings today because I put the wrong guy out there,” he said. “I shouldn’t have changed the lines.”
Even though there was a full period still to play, Adolph thought his team’s chances of winning were all but gone with the failed faceoff.
“This is a game of emotions, man. It’s 2-0; game is over. I made a mistake… that’s what you need to know.”
The Huskies managed to survive a 5-on-3 penalty kill in the second period but couldn’t keep the potent Golden Bear power play from scoring in the third.
With Jaimen Yakubowski in the penalty box for roughing, it was Grayson Pawlenchuk roofing a shot short-side on Kozun from an improbable angle just above the goal line to make it 3-0.
From that point on, aggression would take over as four Huskies earned early trips to the locker room with various misconducts. None of the misconducts will carry over to game three.
The result sets up a dramatic series finale Sunday after the Huskies took game one by a 4-2 score.
Huskies forward Collin Shirley doesn’t mind the pressure of a winner-take-all game three against the defending national champions.
“One-one against U of A in the Canada West final isn’t a bad place to be,” he said before turning his attention to Sunday.
“It’s basically who wants it more tomorrow. We need 20 guys playing a full 60 minutes, and I’m sure they’re going to do the same.”
“It should be a good one.”
