“When they came out with the Ukrainian national anthem and everything, it gave me chills. Just that atmosphere in here, it was pretty special.“
Huskies 2, Ukraine 0
For one time, and one time only, the host University of Saskatchewan Huskies didn’t really feel like the home team despite playing on their own home ice.
That’s because a pro-Ukrainian crowd — standing-room only at Merlis Belsher Place — came to cheer on the travelling Ukraine’s national under-25 team Friday with most of those Ukrainian players flying in just a few days earlier from Ukraine.
“We were the away team on home ice,” quipped Huskies assistant captain Jared Dmytriw, whose team nonetheless came away with a 2-0 victory over the visiting Ukrainians before a packed Dog House with 2,375 fans attending what was the first stop of the four-game Can’t Stop Hockey Tour through Western Canada.
“That’s fine. To have those guys here, it’s really special for them and it means a lot.”
When Ukrainian’s national anthem played prior to the game, Dmytriw had goose-bumps.
It was an emotional moment for Dmytriw, whose dad’s side is of Ukrainian ancestry, and for anybody else in the crowd with Ukrainian roots or heritage.
“It’s a special game and it was a great turnout tonight,” said Dmyitriw. “To have this game here, and have the support they had tonight by the Ukrainian community and by everybody that was here in Saskatoon, it was awesome.
“You know, when they came out with the Ukrainian national anthem and everything, it gave me chills. Just that atmosphere in here, it was pretty special.“
The Can’t Stop Hockey Tour is both a humanitarian fundraiser for Ukraine and also preparation for the Ukrainians prior to the upcoming FISU Universiade Winter Games in New York.
“We were probably enemy No. 1 out there today,” chuckled U of S head coach Brandin Cote. “But I thought, overall, it turned out really good. The crowd was great and there’s something bigger than the game here too. For us, to shake off some of the rust, I think, was good, too. They played really hard. It was good. It was a well contested game.”
Dawson Holt and Carter Stebbings scored first-period goals for the Huskies, who outshot Ukraine 27-20.
Dmytro Kubrytskyi made 25 saves for Ukraine, which went 0-for-3 on the power play. Saskatchewan was 0-for-1.
“Nice for us before Universiade,” said Ukraine team captain Vadym Mazur, who hails from Kyiv and admittedly doesn’t speak that much English.
“Good speed (on the ice). This level is not like it is in Ukraine. This speed (is higher calibre). This ice rink is very good for us.”
Mazur welcomed the support of the Saskatchewan people, which included a number of Ukrainians who have settled here in the past year.
“It’s very good,” said Mazur. “It’s so nice playing here. Everyone was, ‘ooh, Ukraine.’ It’s really good. Better than in (war-torn) Ukraine now.
“Of course we will be better. We have only three days in Canada, from Kyiv to Poland, we fly for maybe two days. It was very hard for us.”
Saskatchewan used all three of its goalies — Roddy Ross, Jordan Kooy and Declan Hobbs — as they shared in the20-save shutout.
“I wanted to get all three in just because it’s an event, right, something they’ll remember and then obviously we’re going to need Dec ready to play because Roddy’s going to be gone to the FISU’s,” said Cote. “I thought it was a no-brainer to get them all in.”
DOG TALES: Dmytriw and Ross will also be playing in the upcoming FISU World Universiade Winter Games in New York state, where they will be representing Canada … Saskatchewan lost centerman Liam Keeler to an upper body injury in the second period. He did not return. “It sucks — that’s the risk you take with playing a game that’s not for real, in that way, but at the end of the day, you weigh the pros and cons and it happens,” said Cote. The team was also missing Aiden Bulych and Jeff Faith … The Huskies will resume U Sports play in the Canada West conference next weekend in Langley, B.C., where they’ll meet the Trinity Western University Spartans.
Post a Comment