Huskies hockey teams gear up for national championships

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s and women’s hockey teams will look to bring home some hardware as U Sports national championship tournaments get underway this week.

Men’s head coach Dave Adolph will be behind the bench for his 14th national tournament in 25 years.

“It never does get old,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for us to continue to strive for what our goal is and that’s to get here and win a national championship.”

Adolph said the return of some injured players will improve his team’s chances. Both Josh Roach and Logan McVeigh will suit up for nationals after missing out on the Canada-West Finals a week ago.

“To have a little bit more ammo, that’s confidence knowing we have some of our better players back,”

In a one-game elimination tournament format, Adolph said he relishes the opportunity to be in Friday’s last quarter-final game at 4 p.m. against McGill University.

“I much prefer the Friday game. You get a chance to see the event. The environment sort of comes to you,” he said.

This year’s women’s tournament is being held in London, Ont. The Huskies begin play Thursday at 2 p.m. against the Saint Mary’s Huskies from the Atlantic Conference.

Saskatchewan enters the tournament ranked seventh overall,  but boasts the best-ranked defence in the nation.  The team allowed just 1.06 goals per game this season. That statistic is largely due to the stellar play of Jessica Vance.

The second-year goaltender was named a first-team All-Canadian at the U Sports award gala on Wednesday.

On the men’s side, Kendall McFaull was awarded the Dr. Randy Gregg Award for Community Service.

Roach was named a second-team All-Canadian along with starting goalie Jordon Cooke.

-With files from Wray Morrison