Huskies ‘confident’ in ability to finance shortened athletics season, as Alberta shuts down teams over money issues

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies will be without one of its fiercest rivals if a pandemic-shortened 2020-21 athletics season goes ahead in January.

That’s because the University of Alberta announced Wednesday it was shutting down their men’s and women’s hockey, basketball and volleyball teams for the year due to financial pressures.

A statement on the U of A website said provincial cuts, a “demand” that the university balance its budget and a waiving of student fees had produced a “worst-case scenario” for the athletics program.

Canada West had already cancelled all fall competitions, including the entire football and soccer seasons. However, it was still tentatively planning to go ahead with a shortened season for other sports starting in January. A final decision on those sports is expected by Oct. 2.

The news of Alberta’s team shutdown comes as a blow to the Huskies programs, which have come to know the Golden Bears and Pandas teams as their toughest competition.

In men’s hockey, the Golden Bears and Huskies have combined to win the past 24 Canada West championships.

Huskies Chief Athletics Officer Dave Hardy said in a statement that the organization “regrets” not being able to compete against their rivals.

“First and foremost, I feel for all the athletes impacted by the difficult decisions that have been made in the past weeks across U SPORTS,” he wrote.

“The Golden Bears and Pandas have been great colleagues and competitors for many, many years.”

Cuts to university funding in Alberta also led to the Lethbridge Pronghorns disbanding their own hockey programs.

Despite the loss of university sports across the provincial border, Hardy didn’t express concern over an ability to operate teams in the new year.

“We remain confident that with the continued support of both senior leadership and the student body of USask that we will be in a financial position to compete in accordance with Canada West schedules in 2021,” he said.