Game Information
 
Date: Friday, Feb. 28, Saturday, Feb. 29 & Sunday, March 1 (if necessary)
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Saskatoon, Sask.
Venue: Merlis Belsher Place
Watch: Canadawest.tv
Get in the Action: Tickets
 
SASKATOON – In a turn of events that not many in the U SPORTS hockey community saw coming, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men's hockey team and Merlis Belsher Place will once again play host to the Canada West Championship, with the best-of-three series between the Huskies and UBC Thunderbirds getting underway Friday night.
 
Entering their semifinal series as victors in 19 of their last 20 games, Saskatchewan took care of business over the Calgary Dinos this past weekend, recording their 12th and 13th consecutive victories and in the process eliminating their conference foe with a semifinal sweep in the best-of-three series.
 
Despite recording the series sweep, the pair of clashes were anything but a walk in the park for the Huskies who battled in a tightly contested, hard-nosed series against the Dinos. Saskatchewan held on to a gritty 2-1 Game 1 victory over Calgary, before Carson Stadnyk's double-overtime goal in Game 2 sunk the visitors with a 5-4 win.
 
The series sweep sends Saskatchewan back to the Canada West Championship, while also punching their ticket to the 2020 University Cup in Halifax, both of which will be the fifth-consecutive appearances for the program.
 
But in order for the Dogs to play host to the conference championship, they needed some help.
 
After the Thunderbirds advanced to the semifinal series with their quarter-final victory over the Mount Royal Cougars, UBC did the unthinkable, recording an upset for the ages over the defending conference champion and national finalist Alberta Golden Bears, capped with a 2-1 victory in Game 3 of the series on Friday night.
 
The series win clinches what will be the Thunderbird's first appearance at the University Cup in 42 years while snapping the Golden Bears streak of seven-straight national championship appearances.
 
After only winning three games away from home all regular-season, UBC has now won four in the 2019-20 postseason and will be in search of two more victories on the road this weekend in Saskatoon, as they pray the clock doesn't hit midnight on their Cinderella story.
 
The Thunderbirds have only won twice in the Bridge City since the 2009-10 campaign, with their last victory coming on Nov. 14, 2015.
 
Saskatchewan won all four of their regular-season meetings against UBC, but the Thunderbirds proved throughout the past two weekends that their lack of regular-season wins doesn't faze them in the slightest, as they held a 1-6-1 record against their two previous playoff opponents, before going on to beat both the Cougars and Golden Bears in their respective quarter-final and semifinal series.
 
5 Things
 
1: The Huskies, who will be looking for their 11th Canada West Championship, are trying to win their first title in the new barn after falling short last season in the conference final to the Golden Bears.
 
2: Meanwhile, UBC will be looking to become the first team other than Alberta or Saskatchewan to win the Canada West since the Calgary Dinos lifted the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy back in the 1995-96 campaign as they make their first appearance in the conference championship since 1978.
 
3: This weekend will present one last opportunity for Kohl Bauml, Andrew Johnson, Logan McVeigh and Levi Cable to suit up at home as members of the Huskies. The quartet of fifth-year forwards are the lone members of the team to have won the Canada West when they defeated the Alberta Golden Bears in their rookie season in the green and white.
 
4: Historically, UBC has success coming into Saskatoon as a playoff underdog. The Thunderbirds last postseason meeting against the Huskies came back in 2013-14, when the sixth-seed visitors upset the third-seeded Dogs in the conference quarter-finals, sealing the best-of-three series with a 6-4 win at Rutherford Rink.
 
5: Saskatchewan and UBC joined host Acadia as three of the eight programs to punch their tickets to the 2020 University Cup in Halifax, N.S. This year's installment will mark the third time Nova Scotia has played host to the historic tournament, but the first in program history for Acadia, after St. Francis Xavier and Saint Mary's served as hosts in 2015 and 2016 when the event also took place at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
 
Scouting the Thunderbirds
 
When UBC left town after their weekend series with Saskatchewan back on Jan. 24 and 25, the team held a 6-13-4 record. While that record doesn't entirely symbolize a championship pedigree, it goes to show just how far the Thunderbirds have come since. They went on to win three of their last four to clinch their tenth consecutive postseason appearance before going on their run to get them to the conference championship.
 
Rylan Toth, a Saskatoon native who graduated from Holy Cross High School in the Bridge City, will be the one to watch this weekend. The netminder has made a name for himself over the past couple of weeks, single-handedly carrying the Thunderbirds to the series victory. Toth recorded 51-save and 41-save wins in Game 1 and 3 of the best-of-three against Alberta.
 
Toth is no stranger to the postseason, as the netminder suited up in the back-to-back Memorial Cups in his WHL days, with the Red Deer Rebels in 2015-16, then with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2016-17. Toth was a teammate of current Huskies forward Donovan Neuls, along with New York Islanders forward Matthew Barzal on the Thunderbirds, leading the team to a WHL Championship in his final season of major junior.
 
While David Ayres is stealing the headlines in the hockey world after being called into action for the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night in Toronto, Toth is no stranger to the emergency backup goalie position himself, as the netminder frequently serves in the role for the Vancouver Canucks. Toth was almost pressed into duty on Dec. 15, 2018, after Philadelphia Flyers goalie Anthony Stolarz was injured, moving the UBC netminder onto the bench and into the backup role.
 
Jake Kryski and Matt Revel are the leading point-getters for the Thunderbirds this postseason. After recording five goals and 13 assists during the regular-season, Kryski, a rookie standout for UBC, has continued to produce in the postseason, recording two goals and three assists in six playoff games. Meanwhile, Revel, who spent two seasons with the Saskatoon Blades, also has tallied five points in six games during the playoffs.