SASKATOON, SK – The hot Saskatchewan Huskies hosted the rival Alberta Golden Bears Friday night at Merlis Belsher Place for game one of the weekend series.  The Huskies were undefeated in 2024 coming into today's game, having swept both Regina and MacEwan.  The Golden Bears' last game was a 5-0 loss on January 13th vs the Calgary Dinos.

The Huskies and Bears have a long history of epic games, though the overall advantage belongs to the Golden Bears.  The Bears have a 98-41-2 conference play record versus the Huskies since 1973.  The Huskies are 34-52-3 on home ice versus their northern rival since that same time frame.

On home ice, the Huskies are 6-4 thus far in the 2023-2024 season, while the Golden Bears are 6-4 on the road thus far.  These two teams last met on November 3rd and 4th in Alberta, with the teams splitting.  The Huskies grabbed the opening win on the 3rd by a score of 3-1, while the Bears bounced back on Saturday by edging the visiting Huskies 4-3.

Coming into tonight's game, Jordan Kooy (2.29 GAA) got the start in net for the Huskies, while the Bears countered with Ethan Kruger (2.80 GAA).  Tonight was Kooy's 4th straight start for the Huskies.

In a game where the Huskies found themselves in the penalty box more than they would have liked, they still managed to squeak out a 4-2 versus the Alberta Golden Bears.
 

THE HIGHLIGHTS

• The Huskies Raphael Pelletier (11) opened the scoring 6:51 into the opening frame to give the hometown Huskies the 1-0 first-period lead.

• The Huskies came right back just a couple minutes later at 8:43 when Vince Loschiavo (12) put a nifty one-timer behind Ethan Kruger to give the Huskies the 2-0 lead. 

• Alberta's Bruce MacGregor potted a power-play goal 4:35 into the second period to close the gap to 2-1 Huskies.  The goal was MacGregor's first in 2023-2024.

• With the Huskies' Jeff Faith in the penalty box on a 5-minute major, Carter Stebbings (10) scored short-handed to regain the 2-goal lead for the Huskies.

• On the power play, Golden Bears Eric Florchuk (9) slid the puck under Jordan Kooy with 46 seconds left in the second period to close the gap to 3-2 Huskies.

• With just 35 seconds left in the final frame, with Alberta on the power-play and with the goalkeeper pulled, Justin Ball (10) iced it with an empty-netter to give the Huskies the 4-2 win.
   

THE STATS

• Tonight's Huskie win extended their win streak to five games, still undefeated in 2024, while the Golden Bears have dropped their last two.

• Final shots on goal were 32-25 in favour of the Golden Bears.

• The Huskies were 0/2 with the man advantage, while the Golden Bears went 2/8.

• Tonight's attendance at Merlis Belsher Place was 1532.

THE STANDINGS
Coming into the game, the Huskies sported a record of 15-5, riding a streak of four straight wins and 6-4 in their last 10, good for 5th place in Canada West.  The Bears were 15-7 and 8-1-1 in their last 10, good for 4th place in Canada West.  In the Huskies' last four games, they've outscored their opponents 31-6.

Following tonight's game the Saskatchewan Huskies record stands at 16-5, with the Golden Bears dropping to 15-8 in Canada West standings.  Both teams are now tied in the Canada West standings.

THE NEXT ONE
The Huskie will return to home ice tomorrow night, 5:00 PM, versus these same Alberta Golden Bears at Merlis Belsher Place, and tickets are available at HuskieTickets.com.
 

2024 GFL U SPORTS WOMEN'S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP presented by CONNECT ENERGY
The Saskatchewan Huskies are proud to host the 2024 GFL U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship presented by Connect Energy. The national championship will be held at Merlis Belsher Place on March 14-17, 2024. Ticket packages are available at HuskieTickets.com.