Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Included in the current eight-game winning streak that the Saskatchewan Huskies men's hockey team is riding are a pair of lopsided wins over the Griffins right before semester break.
On account of the Griffins flushing the 6-0 and 10-2 losses prior to returning home from Saskatoon Nov. 30, those shall not be mentioned any further.
But the lessons learned have stuck with them as they welcome Canada West's hottest team for a pair of games on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (5 p.m., both Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).
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"They're a very good hockey team – extremely skilled, but the way they play is just patient as they wait for you to make mistakes," said Griffins head coach Zack Dailey. "Then they use their speed and their skills. They don't force anything, they don't cheat the game. They play it as solid as a hockey team can play, so it's a really good test for us."
Saskatchewan (18-4-0) is coming in off a home sweep of Alberta – 4-3 and 4-1 wins that moved them to the top of the Canada West East Division and in the driver's seat for a first-round bye. The Griffins (9-11-2) are back home after splitting contests in Manitoba (a 5-4 win and 6-3 loss).
"We need to be playing good hockey as we get into the end of the season, so this is a great test to see where we're at, and where we can fix things," said Dailey. "I definitely didn't feel we gave them our best effort and best games earlier in the season, so we're excited to compete a little bit harder, show them what we've got and see where we measure up with them."
With the stretch drive of the season upon them, the Griffins have an eight-point lead over Manitoba (5-15-2) for the third and final post-season berth in the East Division with six games left for both teams.
Although they could have clinched a spot if they had beaten Manitoba last Saturday, the Griffins' magic number to clinch is now three (any number of Griffins wins and Bisons losses) because the Bisons won the season series tiebreaker against them with Saturday's victory. Manitoba visits already-eliminated Regina (3-18-1) for a pair of games this weekend.
The Griffins rightfully aren't paying attention to the playoff math, though, as they are fully invested in the process that leads to success.
"It wasn't even something that was brought up before the game," said Dailey of Saturday. "We didn't even talk about it. I want their focus on playing well and not the results piece.
"Again, if you're doing everything right, you're giving yourself the best chance to get the results. We're just focused on the process of everything.
"When it's all said and done, guys have done some pretty cool things and we can reflect and be proud of those things at that time, but right now we're in grind mode and we're just trying to play some good hockey."
Marc Pasemko leads the Griffins in scoring with 21 points in 20 games in this, his final university season (Rebecca Chelmick photo).
At the forefront of that is leading scorer Marc Pasemko, who has 21 points in 20 games in his final university season. That's just six points shy of the program's single Canada West season record, set by Ethan Strang in 2023-24.
"He's been really good for us this year in terms of everything," said Dailey. "In the classroom, he has a 3.9, he's leading our team in points, he's physical, blocks shots, penalty kill – he literally does everything for our group. So, he's been very impressive."
Dailey also singled out the play of rookie Ethan Sundar, who has 14 points in 15 games.
"I've asked him to buy in on the defensive side and he's been doing a much better job," he said. "He's got a lot of offensive creativity."
Lastly, the Griffins wouldn't be where they are without their overall defensive play. They've cut their goals against/game down a bit from last year (4.18 right now vs. 4.36 in 2023-24).
"Just our D in general has been very solid for us this year," said Dailey. "That's why we're where we're at and why we're in the playoff hunt and up on some teams because our team defence has improved, and it has a lot to do with the guys on the back end.
"They've been doing a great job of defending, moving pucks and creating offence. Very good effort from our defencemen."
