Huskies hockey team gearing up for date with Ukrainian squad

At the end of the month, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team will face a team from outside of its conference — and the country.

The Huskies will take on Ukraine’s national team on Dec. 30 during the Hockey Can’t Stop Tour that’s being put on by Canada West.

The Huskies are beginning to prepare for the game, but head coach Brandin Cote said there will be a challenge as they’re the first squad to play the Ukrainian team.

“We won’t have the luxury of being able to see another team play them first,” Cote said.

But he’ll do some homework to see if he can learn anything about the visitors.

“We’re going to try and find out as much as we can about the team. I don’t know what they’ve done in terms of playing-wise and stuff like that. But maybe (I’ll) try and reach out to some people over in Europe just to see what their style is,” he said.

Will he share anything he learns with the coaches of the Calgary Dinos, Alberta Golden Bears and Manitoba Bisons for the remaining games on the tour?

“We’ve got some rivalries going with those other teams, so I think we’ll let them figure that out on their own,” he said with a laugh.

But that’s not Cote’s main focus, as this will be an opportunity for the team to get back to action from its semester break. There’s also a bigger meaning behind the game.

“Anything that we’ve talked about, the guys are really excited about it. We’ve given them a little bit of the background information behind it and the cause and everyone’s on board with it,” Cote said.

The four-game event is to provide a safe space for the Ukraine team to practise during the Russian invasion of its country.

Huskies forward Jared Dmytriw said right now the team is mainly focusing on its season, but the game has been talked about in the locker room.

“We’ve got a lot of guys on our team that have Ukrainian roots and heritage, myself included. It’s terrible what’s going on over there. We’re looking forward to having them here and having them be in our facilities, interact with them and hopefully build some friendships through this experience,” he said.

Dmytriw has Ukrainian heritage on his dad’s side of the family. His uncle married someone from Ukraine a couple of years ago and now resides in Calgary.

Dmytriw says it’s tough for people to get a perspective on what’s happening in Ukraine and what people are going through.

“We take it for granted here ourselves being able to come to work every day in these facilities and get an education here at the U of S and just living in Canada and all that we’re blessed with here,” Dmytriw said. “It’s hard to put ourselves in their situation.”

Cote says they want to make sure the Ukrainian team feels welcome and he hopes both sides get more out of the experience other than just hockey.

“We’re going to really try and interact with the players and the coaches while they’re here and have a lot of dialogue and discussions and just really try and to get to know them,” Cote said.

There could also be other events planned for that week as Cote said the school administration has been in contact with the Ukrainian student association.

The Huskies will play their final Canada West games this weekend before the holiday break. Their regular season resumes Jan. 6.

Tickets for the game against Ukraine are on sale, with proceeds going towards humanitarian and hockey causes in Ukraine and Ukrainian grassroots organizations in Canada.