University of Saskatchewan Huskies goaltender Jordon Cooke may be of a smaller build, but the young man plays big. On Mar. 5, he backstopped the Huskies to a Canada West conference championship, the 16th in program history.

After a 4–0 shutout on Mar. 4 in game one, the Huskies wasted no time in closing the best-of-three series.

Cooke made 26 saves for the win in game two, including a breakaway save near the end of the second period that kept the University of Alberta Golden Bears from going up 2–0. The big save was a pivotal moment in a game that saw the Huskies rally back with two third period goals, just 15 seconds apart, to defeat the Bears 3–2.

“Our defencemen got overlapped and the puck kind of popped past them, and one of [Alberta’s] top players came rushing in,” Cooke said. “I didn’t know what he was going to do. It looked like he was going to shoot so I set my feet. The closer he got, the more I pushed my hands out trying to take away the angle. Luckily enough, I got a piece of it with my glove and it stayed out.”

Cooke and the rest of the Huskies will pack their bags and head to Halifax, N.S., to battle for the 2016 Canadian Interuniversity Sport University Cup, an eight-team single elimination knockout tournament that gets underway on Mar. 17, and will determine the best team in the country.

The five-foot-ten Leduc, Alta. native says his size has made him an underdog in a sport that’s been trending upwards in size, especially at the goaltender position, where the best in the business stand just over six-foot-two on average.

“It’s definitely been an underdog story. I know my size has always played a factor — everyone said I was too small. When everyone says ‘You’re too small and you can’t do it,’ that’s what drives me,” he said.

Cooke played bantam and midget AAA with the Leduc Oil Kings before a four-year stint with the Kelowna Rockets, where he earned CHL Goalie of the Year in his final season. He came to the U of S last year to begin his life as a student-athlete, suiting up with the Huskies while studying commerce at the Edwards School of Business.

“The transition from the Western Hockey League to a student-athlete lifestyle has been big,” Cooke said. “Time management is key for me, balancing school and practice and all the hockey games. It’s definitely not easy.”

Cooke has been lights out in his second season with the Huskies — his first as a starter. He was named the 2015–16 Canada West Outstanding Player of the Year and Goaltender of the Year. He also posted a league leading .932 save percentage and set a new Huskies program record for wins in a single season, with 19.

Cooke believes his work-like-a-dog attitude is what sets him apart, but of course his athleticism and lightning-quick reflexes help too.

“My work ethic has always been hard-wired in me. I believe that’s something I always had. I never had to focus on it. It’s always been there. I learnt that from my parents,” Cooke said.

The quote by Mark Twain on the back of Cooke’s helmet sums up the five-foot-ten netminder nicely: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog.” The undersized goaltender has had an outstanding year with the Huskies and there’s only one goal left: to hoist the University Cup.

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Curtis Fontaine

Photos: Caitlin Taylor / Photo Editor