'Didn't meet the standard': Mace stops Riders practice twice
18h ago
The Saskatchewan Roughriders didn't practise up to their standard on Tuesday.
It wasn’t the kind of return to Merlis Belsher Place the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team imagined Friday.
Hosting a game for the first time in nearly 600 days, the energy generated from the roaring introduction for new high-profile head coach Mike Babcock and the team’s 2019-2020 Canada West championship banner unveiling had difficulty translating to the on-ice performance.
Passes into skates, plenty of penalties and a lack of scoring opportunities nearly doomed the home opener. In the end, it was a third period comeback that would see the Huskies grind down the
The new look Saskatchewan Huskies needed a final period comeback to claw a 3-2 win over the Cougars to ultimately send fans home happy after a nervous 50 minutes of play.
“I’ve been in a lot of home openers in my life and a lot of home openers look like this. You can’t wait for the next one, so you do it right,” Babcock said following the game.
“In the end we found a way to win a game.”
The Huskies walloped the Cougars 12-2 in the preseason only a few weeks ago, but clearly that had no bearing on Friday’s matchup.
“My experience over time is you’re usually up one or down one going into the third. You got to find ways win and that’s what good teams do — they just win,” Babcock said.
First-year forward Zane Franklin had the honours of scoring the game-winning goal with 4:38 remaining to send the 2,136 fans inside Merlis Belsher Place into a frenzy.
“I saw the first two go in and the crowd kind of erupted. It was nice to get one of my own,” Franklin said.
“A wins a win, but maybe next time we’ll make it less stressful.”
Franklin described the Huskies play as “hectic,” pointing to the numerous missed chances or opportunities that dogged the dogs all game long.
“You’re really eager to make all the plays and then sometimes that goes against what you’re trying to do,” he said.
The Huskies entered the game with a massive roster turnover compared to the team that last skated in 2020. Former head coach Dave Adolph, who lead the team for 27 years, is gone. So is top scorers like Collin Shirley, Carson Stadnyk, Levi Cable, Layne Young, Kohl Bauml and Logan McVeigh up front.
Defenceman Sam Ruopp and goaltender Taran Kozun are also gone.
More than anything, Babcock is hoping his team isn’t repeating a parade to the penalty box in Saturday’s rematch like it did tonight with 10 minor penalties, a major penalty and a game misconduct.
He knows the penalty kill won’t need any work.
“We have to work on the discipline part,” he said. “There’s no sense being in the box. It’s dumb.”
How it happened
The Huskies opened the scoring after a long distance shot was knocked down in front for Donovan Neuls to calmly slide the puck across to Justin Ball for a 1-0 lead after the first period.
Tanner Sidaway evened the scoring nearly six minutes into the second period on a deflection in front of Huskies goaltender Roddy Ross.
Regina was able to earn a 2-1 lead 47 seconds into the period, capitalizing on an odd-man rush from its own end. Tyler Adams patiently waited for the defender to go down before passing across to Turner Ripplinger for the tap-in goal.
Shortly afterwards, Huskies forward Jeff Faith was given a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct, but Regina was unable to score on the lengthy power play.
Huskies forward Chantz Petruic deflected a long distance effort from Connor Hobbs to even the game at 2-2 with 6:13 remaining before Franklin played hero, finding himself in front of a wide open net when Justin Ball centred the puck for the 3-2 win.
Forward Vince Loschiavo injured himself when he fell into the boards after a whistle and stood up holding his arm. Babcock wouldn’t say what the injury was, only that his return to the lineup wouldn’t be “right away.” He’s expected to miss multiple games.
Neither team scored on the power play. Saskatchewan wasted four opportunities with an extra skater and Regina was unable to score on seven power play chances.
The Cougars host the Huskies Saturday.