GAME INFORMATION

Date: Friday, Feb 11 & Saturday, Feb. 12
Time: 7:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m.
Location: Saskatoon, Sask.
Venue: Merlis Belsher Place
Watch: Canadawest.tv
Listen: HuskieFAN

TICKETS || WATCH LIVE 

SASKATOON – With fans in the stands, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men's hockey team is set to get back to Merlis Belsher Place.

The Huskies will welcome the Manitoba Bisons to town this weekend in what will be their final pair of regular-season games this season.

While there are only two games remaining, there is still much on the line for Saskatchewan within the jam-packed Canada West. The Huskies currently hold a 12-6-0 record — good for fourth-place in the conference — but their finishing seed could be anywhere from second to fifth, depending on results elsewhere this weekend.

Saskatchewan is in hot pursuit of a home playoff series. That's what all the eyes will be on this weekend. They would clinch that with two wins this weekend, as it would guarantee the Huskies a top-four seed in the Canada West.

Saskatchewan enters the pivotal matchup fresh off what was a dominant pair of wins over the MacEwan Griffins in Edmonton, as they racked up 5-0 and 6-1 victories. The Huskies had seven different skaters find the back of the net over the weekend

While Manitoba is out of that race with 13 points and locked into seventh-place in the conference, they will certainly be looking to play spoiler. But it was Saskatchewan that took wins in both meetings earlier this season over the Bisons, recording 4-3 and 4-0 victories at Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg.

That success against Manitoba goes back far beyond this season, with Saskatchewan not having lost a game to the Winnipeg-based program since Feb. 5, 2017, holding a 12-0 record since. It's been even longer since a loss at Wayne Fleming Arena, that being a 5-2 defeat on Nov. 26, 2016. 

That's a trend the Huskies will look to continue this weekend. Two wins would be massive for the program and they certainly have history on their side.

Thoughts from Coach Babcock:

Babcock on the weekend ahead and how is team is shaping into form:

"For us, it's another important weekend. We got to take a step. We've had lots of injuries since Christmas time. (Dawson) Holt is a really good penalty killer for us. When we lost him, our penalty kill wasn't very good. It took us a while to make the adjustments with the new people in. We seem to be up and running there and we're just working out our game, trying to get better and better. Last week and this weekend, they're not about MacEwan and Manitoba, it's simply about us and trying to get better."

Babcock's assessment of his goaltenders this weekend in Edmonton:

"It was good. We didn't give up much, but they were both good. So that's positive. Roddy gets the start on Friday night and we'll see what we're doing on Saturday."

Babcock on playoff-seeding heading into the final weekend of regular-season play:

"We've just thought about putting ourselves in the best situation. It'd be ideal if you could get these games, but to me, it's about how we play. So if you play well and you're getting better, you have a chance for success. If you don't play well, you have no chance for success down the road here, which is what matters."

Babcock on what it means to be playing back in front of fans this weekend, and potentially next:

"We're looking forward to doing that, obviously here this weekend, and then if in the first round of playoffs? For sure. That'd be great."

5(ish) Things

1. With two victories this weekend, the Huskies would host a home playoff series for the sixth-straight season dating back to 2015-16
2. It was a big weekend in Edmonton for Aiden Bulych, who had back-to-back two-goal games in the Huskies weekend sweep of the MacEwan Griffins. The former Swift Current Bronco, who joined the team for the second-half of the season, now has five goals in five-career Canada West games.
3. Zane Franklin and Connor Hobbs each rank in the top-five in the conference in points. Franklin leads Canada West rookies, while Hobbs leads Canada West blueliners with his 22 points.
4. As Babcock alluded to, the Huskies got wins from both Roddy Ross and Jordan Kooy this weekend. Ross recorded a 19-save shutout on Friday night — his second of the season. Kooy, who joined the program following the break, made 21 saves on 22 shots on Saturday afternoon to record his first-career win as a Huskie.
5. The Bisons recently lost former Saskatoon Blade Reece Harsch, as he signed with the Vancouver Canucks American Hockey League affiliate Abbotsford Canucks. Harsch, who had 12 points in 12 games this season for Manitoba, leaves a void on the Bisons back end. 
6. Devon Skoleski is arguably one of the hottest players in the Canada West right now. Skoleski is currently sporting a seven-game point streak — the longest active streak in the conference — with 14 points during that span. The fourth-year Bison, who spent time with the Prince Albert Raiders before joining the program in 2018, is having a career year with 18 points in 14 games.