Game Information
 
Date: Friday, Feb. 21, Saturday, Feb. 22 & Sunday, Feb. 23 (if necessary)
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Saskatoon, Sask.
Venue: Merlis Belsher Place
Watch: Canadawest.tv
Get in the Action: Tickets
 
SASKATOON – After enjoying their opening-round bye, the University of Saskatchewan men's hockey team officially begins their pursuit towards an 11th Canada West Championship in program history this weekend, as they welcome the Calgary Dinos to town for a best-of-three semifinal series.
 
The red-hot Huskies have been one of the most dominant programs in the country this season. The Dogs, who enter the weekend as the number-two ranked program in the nation, have won 19 of their last 20 games, including 11-straight victories.
 
The second-seed Huskies, who finished the regular season with 46 points, will play host to the third-seed Dinos. Calgary, who recorded 39 points, eliminated Manitoba in a two-game sweep this past weekend at Father David Bauer Arena.
 
Saskatchewan, who have qualified for the University Cup for four consecutive seasons, is just two wins away from playing in their fifth-straight national championship. Meanwhile, Calgary's last University Cup appearance came back in 2014-15, which was Saskatchewan's most recent absence from the event.
 
The matchup serves as the Dinos and Huskies first playoff tangle since the classic that was the 2017 semifinal series at Rutherford Rink, in the final postseason clash at the legendary arena. After the pair of programs split the first two contests, setting up a do-or-die Game 3, Carson Stadnyk emerged as a Huskies hero by scoring the game-winning goal with just 24 seconds remaining in regulation to break a 1-1 tie, sending the Huskies off to their third-consecutive CW Final.
 
Stadnyk and company will be hoping to continue Saskatchewan's postseason success against Calgary, with the Dogs entering the weekend as winners of six of the last seven playoff games against the Dinos.
 
The Huskies took three of their four regular-season contests against the Dinos, with their lone loss to the program coming in overtime back on Oct. 26 at Merlis Belsher Place. In their most recent games, Saskatchewan recorded back-to-back 4-0 and 3-0 shutout wins over Calgary at Father David Bauer Arena nearly a month ago.
 
5 Things
 
1: The Huskies enter the weekend chasing their seventh University Cup appearance in the past eight years. 
 
2: This weekend's series serves as one of the conference's two best-of-three semifinals, with the Alberta Golden Bears playing host to the UBC Thunderbirds in the other matchup. Both semifinal victors will not only advance to the Canada West Championship but also the 2020 University Cup.
 
3: Saskatchewan has been backstopped all season long by Taran Kozun, who they will lean on once again this weekend. Kozun finished his third-year campaign with a 17-3-2 record leading the conference in wins, shutouts, goals-against average and save percentage. The Nipawin, Sask. native registered five shutouts this season, tying the previous conference record which he set in 2018-19. He now holds the Huskies program lead with 11 career shutouts, a mark that sits second in conference history.
 
4: Kozun and the Huskies will have their hands full in slowing down Matt Alfaro this weekend. Alfaro, a third-year forward who spent his WHL career with the Kootenay Ice and Lethbridge Hurricanes led the Canada West in scoring this season with a breakout 36-point campaign, registering 15 goals and 21 assists in 27 games. The Calgary native registered two goals in the Dinos lone win over the Huskies earlier this season, including the double-overtime winner.
 
5: Calgary relied heavily on their first line in their quarter-final win, as Kaden Elder, Coda Gordon and Alfaro paved the way for the club to advance to the conference semifinal. The trio of forwards combined for nine points in the team's two-game sweep, including two goals from Elder, a Saskatoon native, in the team's 6-2 win in Game 1. Gordon followed up the effort with a two-goal performance of his own in Game 2, tallying both of the Dinos goals in the team's 2-1 Game 2 victory.