Canada West identify in hand, Golden Bears at the hunt to copy as countrywide guys’s hockey champs

They received the West. Now the University of Alberta Golden Bears wants the rest. The defending national champion men’s hockey squad have set their attractions squarely on some other David Johnston University Cup following Sunday’s squeaker of a Canada West Conference final that noticed them win the 1/3 and determining sport over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 1-0. It became the second shutout in as many nights using Bears goalie Zach Sawchenko, who published comfortable sheets of 21 and 28 saves following a 4-2 loss to open the road series against a primary-place Huskies squad that finished one point beforehand of them in the healthy season.

“Well, we didn’t play our game, so we have been nicely rested after that first sport,” Bears head instruct Ian Herbers said in a post-recreation interview with Canada West TV. “Saskatchewan played excellently, and they were adequately all weekend and played very hard. But we weren’t our group. We weren’t skating, we weren’t first to pucks, we weren’t relentless, we weren’t tenacious, we weren’t gambling inside the O-area, and that’s no longer like us.

“And so, we responded well, and we’ve achieved this in the past in which we’ve pop out a touch flat after which the next games, we’re simply rolling along. It starts evolved on the internet with Sawchenko playing in addition to what he did and making some key saves at key instances.” Fittingly, the lone purpose of Sunday’s recreation belonged to Bears forward Luke Philp, who led Canada West in scoring over the season with both 21 goals and 45 factors, despite lacking four games of the 28-tilt agenda because of harm.

“They had been doing an actual suitable task on the PK in opposition to our energy play, so I just attempted to do something distinct and get my nostril into the internet,” Philp, whose handiest intention of the collection ended up prevailing all of it, stated at the submit-sport broadcast. “They do an excellent task playing group defense. That first sport, mainly, we didn’t have plenty. We thought we dictated the play (Saturday) and then (Sunday); it becomes a tough-fought war. “Our goaltender, although, Suzy, he the actual hero, I suppose. He had returned-to-lower back shutouts, and he played fantastic video games.”

Not sorry for someone who has been overshadowed coming into the series by his Huskies counterpart, Taran Kozun, the Canada West goalie of the yr. Both netminders stored Sunday’s recreation from becoming what in all likelihood ought to have been a five-4 result. “They’re a difficult team to play against,” Sawchenko stated on the air. “Between the primary, 2d, and third video games, it became a game of inches. It becomes bounces right here and there; there were some posts, a few bad bounces, and it can have long gone both ways on the cease of the day. “We’re just happy to be in this give up of it.”

Regardless of the conference’s very last are the result, both groups had already punched their tickets to the national championship in Lethbridge from March 14-18. “This is the primary component, we’re nowhere near being finished here, and we’re trying to push for lower back-to-again countrywide titles,” Sawchenko said. “We need to head in complete steam ahead, and it becomes a brilliant check this weekend for both teams. I suppose each group grew a bit, each group confirmed their great abilities heading into nationals, and it’s set to be a superb match down in Lethbridge.”

And the hazard at yet another rematch between the two groups, who’ve established to be a few of the pinnacle in the united states of America yr over yr. “For something cause, it always looks like if we’re going to win an identity or they’re going to win a name, we’ve got to go through each other,” Sawchenko stated. “So I don’t assume this could be the ultimate time we see Saskatchewan this 12 months, and that’s perfectly first-class. “It provides another bankruptcy to this competition, and it’s going to be a great tournament. We’re both searching ahead to it, and right now, we’re going to revel in this win, but we’re proper again to work on Monday.”

For Herbers, the Bears application is selecting upright. He left off after winning three conference titles in a row and again-to-lower back countrywide championships before spending the beyond seasons with the Edmonton Oilers training workforce. “There are three guys nonetheless closing from the group that I had before I left,” he said of fifth-year Bears Riley Kieser, Stephane Legault, and Tanner Clarkson. “Stan (Marple, standard manager), apparently, has accomplished a top-notch task recruiting, getting the proper players, the character, the leadership that we’ve got in that dressing room. “So it’s a smooth transition for me. When I became with the Oilers, I’d nonetheless pop using, say hello, and spot how things had been doing while Serge (Lajoie) was coaching. He’d come with the aid of the Oilers dressing room, as well, and share ideas and talk hockey.”