Huskies lead Canada West heading into break
If the University of Saskatchewan Huskies knew that they’d be the owners of a 14-2-0 record at the Christmas break, they probably would not be asking Santa Claus for a re-count.
“I probably would have predicted it,” quipped U of S head coach Dave Adolph, whose team enters the break atop the Canada West conference standings with a threepoint lead over the University of Alberta Golden Bears following a weekend series split with their archrivals.
“The bottom line is your measuring stick is always your best teams in your league,” added Adolph, who watched his team’s 13-game winning streak end Saturday night at Merlis Belsher Place. “We went into their barn and stole one and they came into our barn and stole one. “It’s 50-50.”
Or close to it. The Dogs earned four points for the season series, while the Bears managed to pick up five. “Yeah, they got an extra point (for an overtime loss Friday), a lucky one,” admitted Adolph. “But (overall) that’s a pretty good first half of the season. We handled the rest of the way. We have lots of depth. We have lots of quality players and we were just a little too banged up to compete (Saturday night).”
The Dogs took their injury-riddled roster up against the defending U Sport national champion Golden Bears and looked like a team running on empty Saturday night, coming out on the short end of a 4-2 score before 2,400 disappointed fans.
“We’ve had really good starts,” says Huskies goalie Taran Kozun, who sports a 2.18 goals-against average and .908 save-percentage this season.
“The first weekend (of the season) was against U of A and we had one good game and we threw in a stinker. We then went on a really good run (13-game win streak) where the guys showed up to play every night. Now, right before Christmas, we have another good game and throw in another stinker.
“When the boys want to play for each other, we can fork out wins. When nobody wants to show up for a game, it’s tough to win.”
There is still room to improve as the Huskies head into December exams and the holiday break.
“We just have to be mentally prepared for both nights,” stressed Kozun. “We’ve been doing really well on Friday nights. I think we get a little lackadaisical on Saturday nights.”
Kozun faced 41 shots Saturday and kept his team in the game.
“You’re going to get shots, either way, against these guys,” shrugged Kozun. “We weren’t prepared to play and were kind of floating around in the D -zone a little bit. The way my job is, I’ve got to make saves and give the team a chance to win.”
In golf terms, the front nine is done and they’ve made the clubhouse turn. The back nine will start soon enough. What areas are there for improvement?
“You can always get better,” said Adolph. “We’ll be all right. We have lots of depth and lots of guys who compete every day at practice. It’s a race now. The last 12 games is a straight sprint to see who comes out on top. You fight for home-ice advantage now.”