Golden Bears hockey sees first loss to Huskies: But why?

The Golden Bears hockey team wrapped up its home game series against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on November 23, with a 5-3 loss. Unlike Friday night’s game which saw the Bears secure a 4-2 win with 50 minutes of game misconduct for both teams.

The Bears improved on plays off the boards from the night prior. However, it was not enough to make up for the Huskies’ strong passing and dominant offensive presence. This ultimately led to the Bears’ first home-game loss of the season.

A suspenseful game leaves fans on the edge of their seats

It was an interesting start to the game when head coach Ian Herbers started captain Josh Prokop’s line as opposed to the usual Justin Hall’s. With that being said, Prokop’s line has been shining for weeks as they continue to create offensive opportunities.

Both teams seemed equally matched offensively, but it took the Bears’ defence a hot minute to catch up to the Huskies’ offence. While they could get the puck into their offensive zone, they weren’t able to keep it there.

Sean Tschigerl scored the first goal of the game, getting back his Canada West scoring leader title after not scoring in three games. What’s more, the goal was on the power play, which was a struggling unit from the night before.

The second period brought an overall high intense level of play and more strategic calls from the Bears, alongside three suspenseful penalty kills that resulted in an unfortunate goal against.

The Bears spent more time in their offensive zone after their defence seemed to catch up to the rest of the game. Even more impressive was the defensive plays in front of the crease that took scoring opportunities away from the Huskies. However, this didn’t stop the Huskies from scoring two goals and creating a 2-1 score in the second period against the Bears.

The Bears gained some urgency after being down two goals in the third period, leading to Sam Popowich scoring his first goal of the season.

While some pressure certainly helped to create an intense game, it was not enough to counter the Huskies put-together style of play.

The Bears secured the empty net goal by Connor McClennon only to give up an empty netter right after.

Where did the Bears go wrong?

The Bears went wrong in quite a few areas. A rather new thing is the Bears’ losing puck battles off the face-off and at the boards. Because of this, the Bears often gave up possession behind their net.

A more frequent issue is their special teams. The Bears were able to gain a power play goal but gave up a short-handed goal against. The power play continues to decline while the penalty kill becomes more consistent but still not great. This is not what you want to see on two units the Bears should be expanding on. With that being said, something that would probably help the power play is drawing more penalties.

The Bears took six penalties in two periods while only drawing four throughout the whole game. No matter how consistent the penalty kill is, when you’re short-handed for six minutes back-to-back, you’re bound to give up a goal against.

When evaluating all these areas, you have to consider that some of these issues are one-offs. Losing puck battles was odd for the Bears and likely won’t continue. As a result of Brett Hyland’s injury, the Bears have had to move around line combinations. With this, issues are bound to come up before subsiding.