DORIAN GEIGER
Sports Editor
Volleyball: The Huskies men’s volleyball team appears eager to shed its image of being one of Canada West’s weakest teams. The Green and White proved it by boosting their record to 2-0 by outduelling the Regina Rams in the opening weekend of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport campaign Oct. 30 and 31.
In sweeping fashion, the men’s Huskies managed to squash the Rams 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-17) Oct. 30 and prevailed in similar style with another 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-20) triumph the following evening. The newly acquired Alwyn Piche performed as expected in the left side slot for the Huskies and led the Dogs with a match-high eight kills and six digs in the Oct. 30 face-off between the provincial foes.
The Rams have remained Canada West basement buddies with the Huskies men’s crew in recent years and Saskatchewan will have more difficulty doing battle with the Brandon Bobcats when they travel to Manitoba on Nov. 6 and 7.
The Huskies women’s volleyball squad were not as successful as their male counterparts over the Halloween weekend and were crushed by the Regina Rams Oct. 30 and 31 by match scores of 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-18) and 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-17). The Prairie Dogs will hit the road and try to bounce back against the Brandon Bobcats Nov. 6 and 7.
Soccer: Winning just two of 14 matches this fall was not how the Huskies men’s soccer squad wanted to finish out the Canada West season. The Huskies were defeated 2-1 during a sunny Nov. 1 encounter with the University of Alberta Golden Bears at Field 7 of PotashCorp Park. The Green and White’s lone goal came from Josh Northey in the 45th minute of the match, evening the score at 1-1. However, the Golden Bears disrupted any comeback attempts by driving home the winning goal in the 68th minute.
With the loss the pack’s record drops to a dismal 2-10-2 and keeps the squad far out of playoff contention. The Canada West Final Four soccer championship takes place next weekend at the University of British Columbia and will feature UBC, Trinity Western, Victoria and Alberta. .
The Huskies women’s soccer team ended their season on a better note and managed to beat the Alberta Pandas Nov. 1 by a score of 4-2. However, the women’s Green and White also failed to qualify for any post-season action in a difficult Canada West conference with their mediocre 5-8-1 record.
Hockey: The Huskies men’s hockey team displayed their depth on Oct. 31 at Rutherford Rink in a 9-2 victory over the Lethbridge Pronghorns. The Huskies also triumphed by a score of 7-3 over the Pronghorns the previous evening.
In the Halloween win over Lethbridge, Saskatchewan found the mesh with eight different Huskies on a nine goal effort. Huskies forward Michael Kaye netted a pair of goals, while Steven Gillen, Chad Greenan, Brennan Bosch, Chris Durand, Shaun Vey, Steven DaSilva and Jesse Zetariuk all equally shared the offensive responsibilities by scoring one goal each.
The weekend wins over Lethbridge improve the Huskies record to 3-0-5. Next weekend the team travels westward to take on the Dinos in Calgary on Nov. 6 and 7.
Football: The Huskies clinched first place in Canada West with a 42-17 win over the Regina Rams in what was both team’s final games of the Canada West season. The Huskies play their first playoff game Nov. 7 at PotashCorp Park, also against the Rams. The Huskies were supposed to play Manitoba but the Bison forfeited the results of three games due to an ineligible player so Regina will take Manitoba’s place.
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photo: Robby Davis