Kade Gates

To get you ready for the upcoming season, here is the Sheaf’s preview of what’s to come for the upcoming hockey campaign.

The men’s team will return all but three players from last year’s roster, which finished sixth in the conference with a record of 10–15–3. Forward Craig McCallum will be missed, as he led the team in points with 26 last year. Saskatchewan will also be without one half of their goaltending duo from last season, as Ryan Holfeld graduated last year.

Offensively, they will be led by Josh Roach, Michael Sofillas and Jesse Ross this year. Roach was second on the team in points last year with 22, with Ross and Sofillas being second and third in goals, respectively. Matt Spafford will also return to the Huskies for his final season after posting a modest 12 points in 26 games last season, good for fifth on the squad.

On the back end, the Huskies will be led by seven returning defencemen, amongst them Kendall McFaull, John Lawrence, Jesse Forsberg and Jordan Fransoo. Lawrence will be the Huskies top point-getting defencemen returning from last season. McFaull was one of the team’s best defensive players last year, as he finished the season -4, which was top amongst defencemen.

In goal for the Huskies will be returnee Jordon Cooke, who started 14 games last year, going 5–9 with a 3.13 GAA and recording one shutout as he split time with Holfeld. Backing up Cooke will be Blake Voth, who has appeared in three games in three years with the Huskies, going 2–0 with a 1.71 GAA.

The Dogs will be aided by a new group of recruits including Kohl Bauml, Brett Boehm and four more players with Western Hockey League experience. Bauml can be relied upon to be a scoring threat in his first year with the team, as he was a 30-goal scorer with the Everett Silvertips of the WHL last season.

Boehm is an exceptionally talented player who has been a dangerous scorer in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League for the last several years, as he lead the Yorkton Terriers to a RBC Cup championship in 2014. Boehm was originally committed to the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs of the National Collegiate Athletics Association.

Head coach Dave Adolph spoke of the team’s goals for the upcoming season and what will drive this team to the playoffs.

“Our first goal is to make the playoffs; that’s been my goal for 24 straight years. Secondly, we’ve added 10 new players, so our depth is that much better this year. My goal is to play Mount Royal in the first round and send them packing this year,” Adolph said. “Our goal has always been to make it to the Canada West final and from there, the top two teams qualify for the National Championships. Those are the three segments we plan for every year; our result last year was pretty disappointing.”

The Huskies will face stiff competition from the usual suspects this season, such as the University of Alberta Golden Bears, the University of Calgary Dinos and the University of Manitoba Bisons. The Mount Royal Cougars and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds will compete for playoff spots, whereas the University of Regina Rams and the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns could be in for long seasons.

Alberta lost a few key players last year but will still return with the most talented roster in the CanWest. The glaring weak spot for the Bears will be in net, as the Bears lost Canadian Interuniversity Sports All-Canadian Kurtis Mucha and have struggled to replace him so far in the pre-season. Calgary lost both of their starting goalies from a season ago, as Kris Lazaruk and Jacob DeSerres signed pro deals and left the net to UBC transfer and former Saskatoon Blade Steven Stanford.

The Dinos will return three of their top scorers in Elgin Pearce, Chris Collins and Kevin King. Manitoba will be led by Jordan DePape, Shaquille Merasty and Jesse Paradis this season. Byron Spriggs will be the starting goalie for the Bisons after Deven Dubyk left in the off-season.

Adolph gave his thoughts as to what the CanWest will look like this year and his opinion on a team most experts weren’t high on.

“Alberta and Calgary are going to be the top two teams I think. Then I think Lethbridge is going to surprise a whole bunch of people, they added 16 new players this year. Lethbridge will be the surprise of the league, but I think it’s going to be Alberta, Calgary and ourselves, fighting for that top spot,” Adolph said.

The Huskies women’s team began their season this weekend at Rutherford Rink versus the Mount Royal Cougars. The Huskies swept the two game series against Mount Royal and will host Calgary next weekend where they will look to remain undefeated.

Saskatchewan will welcome the return of goaltenders Cassidy Hendricks and Jerrica Waltz. Hendricks will lead the team this year after putting together a very strong season last year, going 13–11–2 with a 2.21 GAA and recording four shutouts. Waltz appeared in just three games going 1–0–1 with a 2.08 GAA last season.

A majority of the Dogs’ defensive core returns, as Julia Flinton, Brooke Mutch, Hanna McGillivray and Kira Bannatyne will all look to help the squad. Flinton returns for her final year with the Huskies, as she looks to build on last season’s performance where she was a CanWest first team all-star and was selected for Team Canada at the World Universiade. McGillivray and Bannatyne are both solid defencemen who registered some of the best plus/minus among Huskies defencemen last year.

The Huskies’ offensive attack will have to be better than last season if they hope to improve on their previous fifth place finish. Kaitlin Willoughby will lead the offence, as she did in her first year as a rookie. Willoughby was the 2013–14 CIS rookie of the year and a CIS all-star last season as she registered 26 points in 28 games. Beyond Willoughby, the Huskies will look to Lauren Zary and Marley Ervine to build on a promising 2014–15 season.

Head coach Steve Kook is excited about Willoughby and what she might be able to do this season.

“She’s in her third year and that’s when kids sort of find their stride and have a good year. It’s hard to argue with her first year, but she and Lauren Zary came into camp 1-2 in terms of fitness and you can tell. A little bit more jump. Just a quicker start and her acceleration is just that much better,” Kook said.

Zary is a former NCAA player and in her first season with the Huskies last year, she registered 14 points in 28 games. Ervine was tied for third on the team in goals last year with six, and already potted her first of this season on opening weekend. Look for the line of Zary, Brooklyn Haubrich and Kori Herner to cause havoc for opponents with their speed this season.

Kook expects big things out of his speedy line.

[Zary is] “as fast as anyone I’ve seen in their first year of CIS. They’re a lightning line — they just move. Three small kids but hard to keep up with,” Kook said.

The Huskies will receive challenges from the UBC Thunderbirds, Manitoba Bisons and of course the perennial powerhouse from Edmonton, the University of Alberta Pandas.

Manitoba lost a few key players this season but when you have Alanna Sharman on your team, you’re never in too bad of shape. The Thunderbirds will be hard pressed to scavenge up goals on this team, as UBC graduated scoring machine Tatiana Rafter last season as well as their superstar defensemen Sarah Casorso.

The Pandas will still be the team to beat in the CanWest this season as they return five of the top twenty scorers in the conference from last season. Alberta can also lay claim to having the top goalie in the CanWest, as Lindsey Post finished last season 20–6–1 with a 1.18 GAA and 10 shutouts.

Kook believes that this team has a good mix of veterans and young guns capable of doing some damage in the CanWest this year.

“We have a real mix of high-level experience and brand new to the league. Every weekend is going to be a little bit of an unknown, but we had a pretty good weekend last weekend in Regina and one of the things we do know is we’ll play the same way and do the same thing, and if we do what we want to do versus what we want to get away with, we play very well,” Kook said.

For more information on the Huskies ice hockey teams and for upcoming game information, visit huskies.usask.ca.

The Sheaf’s

Canada West Predictions                  

Men’s:  

1. Alberta

2. Calgary

3. Manitoba

4. Mount Royal

5. Saskatchewan

6. Regina

7. UBC

8. Lethbridge

Women’s:

1. Alberta

2. Manitoba

3. Saskatchewan

4. UBC

5. Calgary

6. Lethbridge

7. Regina

8. Mount Royal

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Photos: Caitlin Taylor/Photo Editor