What an NCAA rule change might mean for junior hockey in Sask.
Nov 18, 2024
Previously, WHL players were declared ineligible to play NCAA hockey in the U.S.
The University of Regina Rams will play a home playoff game for the first time since 2016.
Regina downed the host Calgary Dinos 30-7 on Saturday to improve to 5-2-0 and wrap up second place in the Canada West football standings. The Rams are to face the third-place UBC Thunderbirds (4-3-0) in a semifinal on Nov. 5 at Mosaic Stadium.
Those T-Birds pulled off the biggest upset of the 2022 Canada West season to date, downing the first-place (and previously undefeated) Saskatchewan Huskies 35-29 in Vancouver.
In Calgary, three players — Ethan Marshall, Emmett Steadman and Marshall Erichsen — each scored their first career Canada West touchdowns for the Rams.
Marshall caught a 24-yard TD pass from Noah Pelletier, Steadman hauled in a 35-yard scoring toss from Pelletier and Erichsen scored on an 11-yard run.
Erichsen, who was appearing in his first career Canada West game, was the Rams’ leading rusher with 74 yards and 14 carries. Marshall caught five passes for 96 yards to lead Regina’s receivers.
Pelletier was 14-for-22 passing for 208 yards for the U of R.
Aldo Galvan added 43- and 21-yard field goals, three converts and a single for the Rams, who also recorded a safety.
Gob Deng provided Calgary’s only touchdown on a two-yard run. Chris MacLean added the convert.
The Regina defence limited the Dinos (1-6-0) to 214 total yards. Rams defensive end Anthony Bennett was credited with half a sack, giving him seven sacks on the season — a U of R single-season record.
In Vancouver, UBC scored the game’s final 13 points to hand the Huskies their first loss after six straight wins to open the season.
With 2:15 left in the fourth quarter, Shemar McBean caught an 18-yard TD pass for the T-Birds. Kieran Flannery-Fleck added the convert to tie the game 29-29.
On the Huskies’ next possession, Ted Kubongo fumbled at the Saskatchewan 28-yard line and UBC recovered. Three plays later, Flannery-Fleck kicked a 31-yard field goal to give the T-Birds a 32-29 lead.
Saskatchewan took the kickoff with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter, but Huskies quarterback Mason Nyhus was sacked on a third-and-four from the U of S 21-yard line.
That set up a 13-yard Flannery-Fleck field goal with 47 seconds remaining.
The Huskies took the kickoff and drove from their own 22 to the UBC 17-yard line, but a Nyhus pass on the game’s final play fell incomplete and the T-Birds had the upset.
Nyhus completed 33 of 49 pass attempts for 441 yards with three touchdowns — a 73-yarder to Daniel Wiebe, a 25-yarder to Caleb Morin and a seven-yarder to Rhett Vavra.
David Solie added two field goals and three converts for Saskatchewan, which also had a safety.
Isaiah Knight caught 45- and 33-yard touchdown passes and added a 54-yard scoring run for the T-Birds. Flannery-Fleck finished with two field goals, four converts and a single.
Knight rushed 17 times for 151 yards and caught three passes for 80 yards to lead UBC. Wiebe had 133 yards receiving on six catches for Saskatchewan.
The Rams wrap up the regular season Saturday with a home date against the Manitoba Bisons (3-4-0). The Huskies complete their regular-season slate with a home game Saturday against the Dinos.