Golden Bears down Huskies for third straight Canada West title

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey season came down to a faceoff in the opposing zone with one second left on the clock and Alberta nursing a one-goal lead.

As Donovan Neuls jumped on the puck drop, it was Gordie Ballhorn winding up and taking a slap shot. The 2,600 fans at Merlis Belsher Place gasped in disbelief when the puck rang off the crossbar as the buzzer sounded to crown the University of Alberta Golden Bears Canada West champions for the third consecutive season after a 1-0 victory.

MHKY 🏒

The Alberta Golden Bears are the 2019 CW Champions!

No surprise, this one came down to the wire! The @BearsandPandas win their 3⃣rd straight title with a 1-0 win over @HuskieAthletics in Game 3.#WonTheWest pic.twitter.com/amgKWqYc95

— Canada West (@CanadaWest) March 4, 2019

“I thought that thing was in at the end, too,” Huskies head coach Dave Adolph said.

“They come down to one goal every year — 17, 18 years in a row.”

Golden Bears goaltender Zach Sawchenko was just as relieved to see the referees give the no-goal signal to end the game.

“It’s a game of inches,” Sawchenko said after earning his second consecutive shutout. “It’s been a crazy weekend… there were posts in game two, posts in game one and posts in game three.”

“We’re just happy to be on this end of it.”

The win gave the Golden Bears hockey program its 28th Canada West title and sixth in the past seven seasons. No other time aside from Saskatchewan or Alberta has won the conference championship since 1996.

The difference in Saturday’s game was an Alberta power play goal 17:44 into the second period as Luke Philp finished off a nearly perfect passing play to slam the puck home on a yawning net.

“It’s about time,” Philp said when asked on his thoughts of breaking the scoring deadlock.

“We had our fair share of chances… but we couldn’t seem to find the net for a while there. That felt great to get that first one and we did a good job sticking with it.”

After a penalty-filled, scoreless first period that saw both teams fail to get any rhythm in their game, it was a goalie show that began to take over.

Huskies goaltender Taran Kozun came to the rescue of his teammates multiple times in the second period, including three post-to-post stops during a 5-on-3 power play and a toe save as he raced a Bears player to the near post.

With 12:40 to go in the period, Kozun got some much needed rest when the foot of Sawyer Lange smashed a glass pane during a Huskies forecheck.

We are so used to dealing with rust delays at Rutherford, what's a @CanadaWest final without some sort of delay?

12:40 to go in the 2nd, @HuskieAthletics 0, Alberta 0.#HuskiePride pic.twitter.com/atLwUZUn21

— U of S Men's Hockey (@HuskiesMHKY) March 4, 2019

The closest the Huskies would come to tying the game was clanging two shots off the post in the second period. Zach Sawchenko made one trophy-winning save after a failed wraparound attempt forced him to make a point blank save on a one-timer to preserve his shutout.

Saskatchewan failed to score in two consecutive games as the offence sputtered to end the series, including going 0-for-6 on the power play Sunday and a combined 1-for-17 in the series.

“Puck luck, you have to earn that,” Adolph said. “I think they played a little bit better than we did yesterday and they earned that opportunity.”

Sunday was the first time an opposing team won consecutive games at Merlis Belsher Place all season long, a statistic not lost on Adolph.

“We put on a real good showing here this weekend for the first time ever at Merlis (Belsher Place). I think it’s only going to get bigger and better from here on in.”

Rough Stuff

Sunday’s game featured a total of 19 penalties — a sign of the bad blood between these arch-rivals all weekend long.

The height of the physicality came when Saskatchewan’s Jesse Forsberg took an elbow to the head at centre ice during the third period. Forsberg was instantly feeling the affects of the collision, and he was unable to make the less than five-foot trip to the bench as he staggered and fell. There was no penalty called on the play.

“He’s the toughest guy in probably (U Sports), I don’t think he was embellishing that,” Adolph said after stating he will not be personally reviewing the hit nor will he send it to Canada West officials for supplemental discipline.

“Every coach in our league does it except this guy,” Adolph said pointing to himself. “If it’s not called on the ice I’m not going to review that.”

Both Saskatchewan and Alberta will be representing the conference at the University Cup national championship tournament in Lethbridge, Alta. later this month.