Men’s hockey:
The number two ranked team in the country made it seven straight wins with a weekend sweep of the University of British Columbia. After Jordon Cooke picked up his second shutout of the season the night before, the Dogs used a huge third period — scoring five times — to propel themselves to a 6–2 win and maintain their six point lead over Alberta in the standings.
It was all Huskies from the get-go as they out-chanced the T-birds all night and out shot them 14–5 in the opening frame, but had nothing to show for it. Levi Cable opened the scoring on the powerplay midway through the second, but UBC knotted things up just four minutes later, and the teams entered the final stanza tied at one.
The Dogs blew it wide open in the third, as Kohl Bauml tallied his eighth and ninth goals of the season early in the period and Connor Cox, Cameron Blair and Cable all found the back of the net as well. In just his third start of the season in goal, Blake Voth made 17 stops and kept his perfect record for the season intact.
Canada West Standings
Saskatchewan 19-3
Alberta15-5-2
Mount Royal 13-6-3
Calgary 9-9-4
Manitoba 10-10-2
UBC 9-10-3
Lethbridge 8-13-1
Regina 5-17
Women’s hockey:
Looking to pick up a crucial win and earn a weekend split with UBC, the Dogs were unsuccessful defending home ice, as they were swept by the T-Birds. The Huskies came out on the wrong end of two tight games, as they actually outplayed UBC on both nights.
On Jan. 22, a pair of second period goals made the difference in the T-Birds 2–1 victory, even though the Huskies outshot them 26–18 in the game. Katie Zinn and Haneet Parhar both scored for UBC, while Lauren Zary had the lone goal for the green and white. Down by two after 40 minutes, Zary gave the Dogs life in the third, finishing off a nice passing play on the man advantage.
Saskatchewan continued to throw everything they had at the net, but Canada West’s top goaltender Danielle Dube stood tall and made 25 saves in the win. The losses drop the Huskies record to 8–8–3–3, which puts them fourth in the conference.
Canada West Standings
UBC 11-6-3-2
Alberta 12-8-0-2
Regina 10-8-3-1
Saskatchewan 8-8-3-3
Manitoba 10-10-0-2
Lethbridge 8-11-2-1
Mount Royal 7-11-3-1
Calgary 6-10-2-4
Women’s volleyball:
It was a tough weekend for the women’s volleyball team, as they were swept at home by Mount Royal, who they were even with in the standings. A 3–1 (25–19,25–19, 21–25, 25–22) loss on Jan. 23 dropped the Dogs’ record to 7–11 on the year, one game behind Mount Royal for the seventh and final playoff spot.
After competing hard in the first two sets, untimely errors cost the Huskies in key moments — they committed 17 errors in the first two sets, compared to just five by Mount Royal. This ended up being a telling stat in the match, as the Dogs racked up 36 attack errors, opposed to just 14 by the Cougars. The Huskies showed flashes of brilliance, but were their own worst enemy in the end, as they hit just 0.107 per cent in the match.
The Dogs did take the third set, with some impressive attacks by Emmalyn Copping and Emily Humbert. Copping finished with eight kills in the match while Humbert posted a game-high of 17. Libero Jennifer Hueser tallied 17 digs in a solid defensive effort. The Huskies will be back in action next weekend, at home to take on MacEwan.
Canada West Standings
Trinity Western 17-1
UBC Okanagan 15-1
Alberta 14-4
UBC 12-4
Thompson Rivers 9-9
Mount Royal 8-8
Calgary 8-10
Brandon 7-9
Saskatchewan 7-11
Winnipeg 6-10
MacEwan 4-12
Manitoba 2-14
Regina 1-17
Men’s volleyball:
With the teams separated by just one win in the standings, a rousing five-set comeback victory on Jan. 22 was the lone win for the Huskies on the weekend. Rookie C.J. Gavlas was phenomenal in the 3–2 (25–21, 28–30, 13–25, 25–21, 15–12) win. The Dogs lost 3–0 (25–20, 25–23, 28–26) the following night to drop to 9–9 in the CanWest standings.
After going up one set early, the green and white lost an intense second set to even the match at one apiece. Saskatchewan imploded in the third set, committing error after error and put up a measly 13 points. In the fourth, they found themselves down 10–3 and appeared to be on the brink of another blowout loss. Some great serving by Gavlas and the rest of the squad allowed the Huskies to chip away at the lead and ultimately take the set.
In the fifth and deciding set, the Dogs rode the momentum from their comeback and led the entire way to close out the match. Gavlas led the way with 10 digs, six blocks and six serving aces, to go along with his 56 assists in the match. Andrew Nelson and Jordan Nowakowski were the beneficiaries of the assists, racking up 17 and 16 kills respectively, in the victory.