The Saint Mary’s Huskies are about to take their best shot at redemption.
The Huskies are back in Thunder Bay, Ont., for their second straight University Cup and are looking to atone for last year’s meltdown that cost them a golden opportunity to claim their first Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s hockey title.
A spot in last year’s final was all but a sure thing — the Huskies could have lost by as many as two goals to the Western Ontario Mustangs in the final round-robin game and still advanced — but collapsed after being tied 2-2 in the third period in a stunning 7-2 loss.
“We left last year with a sour taste in our mouths,” said Huskies fifth-year defenceman Chris Morrison. “We really want to redeem ourselves this year. We’ve got our intensity level up and we’re going in to win instead of just going in to play.”
The Huskies are playing their best hockey of the season, having won 12 of their past 13 games and storming to a 3-0 sweep of the St. Francis Xavier X-Men to win their second straight Atlantic banner.
The offence is firing — putting the puck in the net 38 times in nine playoff games, buoyed by a 10-goal effort from playoff MVP Colby Pridham — and rookie goaltender Neil Conway helped them maintain a stingy 1.67 goals-against average in the post-season.
Huskies head coach Trevor Stienburg said last year’s debacle “hasn’t even been brought up” this week, despite very little turnover from last year’s roster.
“We’re not dwelling on anything,” he said.
“We’re going up there to play Saint Mary’s University hockey: High energy, four lines, play in the other team’s zone, and get as many pucks to the net as we can.”
The third-seeded Huskies open the tournament tomorrow at 3 p.m. against either McGill or Manitoba. They play Saturday at the same time. The championship game is Sunday at 8 p.m.
Conway was named to the CIS all-rookie team while defenceman Andrew Hotham was a second-team all-Canadian.
Bedford’s Luke Gallant, a defenceman with the New Brunswick Varsity Reds, was a second-team all-Canadian.
