Huskies blank Golden Bears 5-0, open 2020 with weekend split

After a hapless effort to start 2020, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies were able to breakthrough against the University of Alberta Golden Bears and earn a 5-0 win Saturday at Merlis Belsher Place.

Following a 33-day break between games, the Huskies played to a 3-0 loss Friday in the first game of the series and only mustered 18 shots on net compared to Alberta’s 48 in a game dominated by Alberta.

“We were on the ice for eight days (prior to Friday),” head coach Dave Adolph said of the team’s preparation. “We were ready to go, everything we did was picture perfect — it just wasn’t our night.”

Saturday was a different story.

Taran Kozun was able to preserve his shutout Saturday with 35 saves after nearly being able to rescue a victory for his team on Friday.

Few things feel better for Kozun than beating Alberta.

“It’s fun playing them the first weekend back. You really get to set the tempo for the rest of the second half. It’s good to play them first and get them out of the way and get used to how you have to play the whole second half and prepare for playoffs,” Kozun said.

Carson Stadnyk opened the scoring 8:53 into the first period on the power play.

The teams would skate to a scoreless second period for a second consecutive night, something that made Adolph nervous going into the third period.

“There’s probably been eight games in the last two years where it’s been 1-0 going into the third period,” Adolph said before listing the games by memory.

“The third period defined it. Third periods matter and our guys, they were full marks for it tonight.”

Saskatchewan was able to open the floodgates in the third period with four goals in a 3:52 span.

First it was Stadnyk getting his second power play goal of the game with a deflection from the slot. Eighteen seconds later Jeff Faith was able to clean up a Collin Shirley breakaway after Shirley put the puck back in front of the net with a nifty feed.

Shirley got in on the scoring act with a breakaway from centre ice that he calmly slotted over the glove of goaltender Matt Berlin less than two minutes later. Opting to avoid Shirley’s lead, Levi Cable scored on another lengthy breakaway of his own with a shot over Berlin’s blocker to complete the scoring streak at 11:30 of the third period to cruise to the victory.

“The big thing for us was getting that one,” Shirley, who finished with a goal and three assists, said. “We got the momentum. Once you’re playing like that and all four lines are going like that it’s tough to stop.”

Calgary was able to swap spots in the standings with Saskatchewan by winning both of its weekend games against UBC.

With 10 games left in the season, the Huskies are in a dog fight to finish in second place and have a chance at starting the playoffs at home.

“We want to stay in the hunt for that second-place spot,” Adolph said. “It’s important that we give ourselves a foot hold in terms of trying to control that spot. I think we’re still one of the better teams in the country and we have the ability to beat Alberta.”