Alberta deserves full credit for its win. The Golden Bears were the best team during the regular season and they were the best team here in Saskatoon. Their relentless puck pressure and transition game were both outstanding. They were a little faster and deeper than the host Huskies. That was the difference.
Even so, the Huskies still had a shot to win it all. They certainly could have used a few lucky bounces or breaks during the final two periods, and, somehow, they couldn't seem to get another power play chance, no matter what, through the final 29 minutes of the game.
Give the Huskies some credit, too. This is a Saskatchewan team many of you on these boards have repeatedly bashed as being such a weak host and having absolutely no chance ... I bit my tongue through all of that. I knew that there were enough quality veteran players on the squad who would give them a fighting chance. A number of them were playing in the third University Cup tournament. Their experience included the 2012 tourney in Fredericton, where the Huskies were the only team to defeat the eventual champion McGill Redmen.
Given the unexpected and late off-season departures (Bubnick, Bortis, Herrod and a few others) that took a big chunk out of their scoring depth, and not much luck on the recruiting front where most of their hopeful recruits (Lane Scheidl, Dylan Wruck, Brock Montgomery, Brenden Walker, Jesse Mychan and Joey Leach) turned pro, the Huskies struggled out of the gate. They were hoping to add a couple of these players at Christmas, Wruck and Montgomery in particular, but Wruck was done for the season due to injury and Montgomery got a pre-Christmas AHL call-up.
After a slow start to the season, the Huskies finished strong in the second half with a 11-3 record before bowing out to UBC in Canada West best-of-three quarter-finals, where the third game was decided by an extremely hot goalie and highly questionable officiating, which ultimately played a factor in the final outcome.
It was a season where nearly everything seemed to go wrong before the Huskies nearly made everything right.
The team loses team captain Brennan Bosch and fellow fifth-year grads Andrew Bailey, Cody Hobbs and Brett Ward. U-Cup MVP Derek Hulak, who was clearly the best player at this year's tournament after playing injured a year ago, is expected to report to the Dallas Stars AHL affiliate this week. Cody Smuk may also be done.
CIS CEO Pierre Lafontaine confirms that next year's University Cup in Halifax, N.S., will see an 8-team, single-knockout format.
Personally, I've attended 11 University Cup national championships now and I've seen a lot. Always an interesting tournament.