After one of the most successful seasons in Huskies history, the men’s hockey team has one last hurdle to overcome. With many intense clashes over the years, the Dogs and University of Alberta Golden Bears will do battle one more time for all the marbles.

Sweeping the University of Calgary Dinos at home, the Huskies will now host their bitter rivals in the Canada West championship series. After going 22–6 in the regular season, the green and white earned the top seed and will have home ice advantage for the pivotal series. While advancing to the conference final, both teams also qualified for the University Cup — the national championship tournament taking place in Halifax, N.S.

Head coach Dave Adolph is pleased to be returning to the University Cup after a disappointing 2014–15 season.

“It’s been our goal every year — to go to the national championships. Our rookies have no idea what it’s about,” he said. “We took a significant step back last year by finishing sixth … I think every team’s goal should be to play your last game, in the very last game of the season, and that’s our goal right now.”

Using a complete team effort, the squad was able to knock off the Dinos in just two games over the weekend. Game one went on Feb. 26, and the Huskies needed some extra time to pull out the victory. Calgary opened the scoring in the series midway through the first, but Josh Roach evened the score shortly after. The teams traded goals the rest of the way, setting up a dramatic overtime.

There were plenty of chances to be had both ways, but both netminders stood tall. It took a double-overtime before a winner was found, with captain Kendall McFaull playing hero when he banged in a rebound at 16:27 into the fifth period. Jordon Cooke made 34 saves for the Dogs, while Steven Stanford was busy, making 77 saves in the loss.

Game two was much of the same, with the Huskies controlling the play and majority of the zone time. Saskatchewan outshot Calgary by a wide margin again, this time 43–24. However, the Dinos jumped out 2–0 early into the game, silencing the near capacity crowd. After a slow start, the Huskies got rolling and scored four straight — including three by defencemen — en route to a 5–3 victory. Jaimen Yakubowski, Tyler Borstmayer, Levi Cable, Connor Cox and McFaull all scored for the home side.

Not being carried by one player or a single line, the Dogs showed their superb depth in both games. Adolph was proud of his team’s effort and a couple of unsung heroes stood out in his mind.

“They loaded up two lines to try and compete on Saturday and our fourth line was significant. Matt Spafford, Jaimen Yakubowski and Cameron Blair were on the ice for three goals,” Adolph said. “I thought that our team played well and they earned it — they deserved to win.”

Shifting their focus to the arch-rival Bears, the Huskies have a chance to win the conference title on home ice, something they haven’t been able to do since 2011. They split the season series two games apiece and the familiar foes have plenty of history in the CanWest — mostly favouring Alberta. They’ve met in conference championship six times in the past years, with Alberta winning four of the series. The Bears have also won two-straight national titles.

Despite their turbulent history with Alberta, Adolph thinks a series win on home ice would do wonders for the team and future of the program.

“These young guys have an opportunity to turn the tables. It’ll have a lasting two, three, four year effect if we win. These kids can be leaders in the CanWest and the [Canadian Interuniversity Sport] if we can learn to beat the Bears,” he said. “If the torch is going to be passed, these guys have to learn how to do it.”

The best-of-three series will take place on Mar. 4 and 5 at Rutherford Rink. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Game three, if necessary, will go Mar. 6 at 7 p.m.

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Photos: Liam Delparte