Huskies end herd’s season
Bisons came close in two straight losses
Regan Sarmatiuk Staff
Photo by Liam Richards, courtesy of The Sheaf.
They came close, but the Bison men’s hockey team couldn’t quite get by the Saskatchewan Huskies, as an overtime loss and a one-goal game ended the Bisons’ season this past weekend in Saskatoon.
On Mar. 3 and 4, the Bisons were facing off in the Great Plains division finals for the third time in the last four years against the Huskies. With a 6-5 overtime win on Mar. 3 and a 5-4 win on Mar. 4, the Huskies advanced to the Canada West conference finals and guaranteed themselves a berth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships, to be held Mar. 23-26 in Edmonton.
After the weekend, Bison head coach Mike Sirant said that losing the series was made that much harder to accept by how close both games were.
“It was a fine line between advancing to the national championships or finishing our season, and this is always the toughest time, when your season’s over and the suddenness, and you just have a real empty feeling,” said Sirant.
Despite the losses, Sirant was still proud of his team’s effort in the series.
“We played very well, I give our players a lot of credit. We really battled, and even at times when we found ourselves behind in the second game, we kept battling back.”
Game one of the series was a back and forth affair, with the Bisons taking a three-goal lead in the first period with goals from Jared Lang, Warren McCutcheon, and fifth-year player Kevin Saurette, who has now completed his Bison career. The Huskies made a goaltending change and then rebounded with two goals before the end of the first period.
Saskatchewan tied it up in the second, but the Bisons took the lead back 30 seconds later as McCutcheon potted his second of the night from Lang. Saskatchewan tied it up again, however, and the teams were deadlocked 4-4 heading into the third, when the Huskies took the lead on a goal from Matt Girling before the herd’s Eric Froystad scored to send the game into overtime.
Saskatchewan’s Dean Beuker, the Canada West conference’s leading scorer, potted the game-winner 4:40 into the overtime frame. Beuker contributed two goals and three assists for the Huskies in the game, while his teammate Brent Twordik contributed two goals and two assists.
In game two, another back and forth game, Saskatchewan started things off, scoring two goals in the first. The Bisons responded with two of their own — one from David Brown and another from McCutcheon on the powerplay with only seconds left in the period.
The second period saw the Huskies take the lead again, before the two teams traded shorthanded goals — one from Bison co-captain Paul Deniset and one from the Huskies’ Dean Serdachny. Saurette then scored on the powerplay only 30 seconds later, but the Huskies’ Trent Adamus responded with what turned out to be the game-winner only 47 seconds later. The herd was held to four shots on goal in the third period and the Huskies were able to preserve their 5-4 lead for a win.
In spite of the sadness that comes with the end of any playoff run, Sirant said that he felt good about how well his team developed and improved as the season wore on.
“If you kind of look at the bigger picture of the whole season, we just kept getting better and better as the season progressed, and played our best hockey of the year in the playoffs . . . and that’s when you want to peak, and I believe we did that.”
NOTES: Fifth-year forward Mike Van Den Bosch and fifth-year goaltender Billy Flett have both completed their final year of CIS eligibility, while fourth-year forward and last year’s Canada West hockey MVP, Paul Deniset, has indicated that he will not return for a fifth and final season next year
