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Huskies 7, Cougars 1
Nothing like a quick offensive burst to start the season.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies opened the Canada West regular season at home with a 7-1 victory over the provincial rival University of Regina Cougars before 1,692 fans at Merlis Belsher Place.
Four early goals in the first period — including a pair from the so-called fourth line — gave the Dogs the jump-start they needed to get going.
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“It was awesome,” said second-year Huskies forward Ben Tkachuk, who opened the scoring at the 2:42 mark. “We came out hard for the first 10, didn’t get the last 10 we really wanted but I thought it was a pretty good game to start, something to build off and I’m excited for (Saturday’s game in Regina).”
The same two teams will meet again Saturday night (7 p.m.) at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.
On Friday, Chantz Petruic potted a couple of goals and Dawson Holt had a goal and three assists for a four-point night to lead the Huskies.
Tkachuk, Cade Hayes, Raphael Pelletier and Carter Stebbings added singles for Saskatchewan, which led 4-0 and 5-1 by periods.
Roddy Ross made 24 saves for the win.
Steven Kesserling had the lone goal for Regina, which went 0-for-6 on the power play.
Saskatchewan was good on two of three power plays.
“I think we got a couple of lucky breaks off the start and we capitalized,” said U of S head coach Brandin Cote. “Overall, the game was alright. We’ll clean some things up, for sure, but we had a lot of good efforts, especially from our depth guys. I really believe it’s going to be a strength where we can out-match teams from the bottom end of our line-up and I thought they did that tonight and got us going.
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“I liked it. It was good to have some butts in the seats and the student section was really great and that’s awesome for the guys.”
The Huskies were already without a couple of regulars, captain Justin Ball and alternate captain Ty Prefontaine, for the season-opener and then lost first-liners Vince Loschiavo and Liam Keeler to injury during the game.
“There we go, right?” shrugged Cote. “Everybody looks at me like I’ve got five heads and then, all of a sudden, we’ve got 12 forwards. That’s how it goes. It’s unfortunate that happened but we’ll see where it is. I don’t know where they’re at, but we’ve got lots of guys who can step up and play.”
Saskatchewan outshot Regina 33-25.
This season, the Canada West is split into two divisions with the Huskies and Cougars playing in the East Division along with the Alberta Golden Bears, Manitoba Bisons and MacEwan Griffins.
“It’s huge,” Tkachuk said of the opening win. “With the divisions and how they work now, every divisional games means everything. So coming out strong and just setting the tone for the beginning of the year is huge and we’re looking to build off that.”
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