Roddy Ross just wanted to give his team a fighting chance.
“I want to give these guys a chance to win every night,” the University of Saskatchewan Huskies goaltender said.
He did a little more than that on Sunday night in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the Canada West finals at Merlis Belsher Place. Ross stood tall as part of a 30-save shutout for the Huskies, blanking the visiting Mount Royal Cougars to secure the program’s 12th conference title with a 3-0 victory.
“The shutout is always big but that’s to the side,” Ross said. “That’s just a bonus. When you get that big banner and big trophy, that’s what we always want in the end.”
The Huskies are Canada West men’s hockey champions for the first time since 2020, completing a pair of three-game series wins against Mount Royal and the UBC Thunderbirds to be crowned kings of the west.
Coming off a 2-1 overtime loss on Saturday that extended the series to Sunday’s Game 3, Ross was dialled in for the Huskies, stopping wave after wave of Cougars chances before being swarmed by his teammates at the final buzzer.
“He’s a stud and he’s absolutely unreal,” Huskies captain Justin Ball said. “Canada West final, Game 3 shutout, I mean, there’s not much more to say than that. He’s just unbelievable and we’re so lucky to have him.”
It’s a much different feeling for the Meadow Lake product compared with a little over a week ago, when he was pulled in favour of Jordan Kooy following Game 1 of the semifinal series against UBC after allowing five goals in a 5-4 overtime loss. It included a gift-wrapped pass to Thunderbirds forward Sasha Mutalaz, who would net the game-winner.
The reigning Canada West goaltender of the year was able to shake off that mistake, however, recording a .951 save percentage over the course of the series against Mount Royal.
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“I’ve been doing this I guess for quite a long time and you have to be mentally stable,” said Ross. “It’s easy to give up and be down on yourself, but you got to be able to pick yourself up and move on. For a goalie, you worry about the next save and I knew these guys were going to get me.”
The conference championship caps off an extremely consistent season of Canada West play this year for the Dogs, who have not lost back-to-back games dating back to late October.
Winning his first conference banner as head coach of the program, Brandin Cote said it was five years of growth for this group in being able to put all the puzzle pieces together.
“It’s just a really special feeling to see it all come together,” Cote said. “Knowing all of the work that these guys put in on the ice, off the ice, in the classroom, in the community, it all culminates together. It’s a moment that all of these guys, myself included, my family are going to remember forever.”
Neither Ross nor Mount Royal goaltender Shane Farkas was beaten until the midway point of the third period, as Huskies forward Vince Loschiavo put a puck on net that deflected off Mount Royal defenceman Michael Ladyman and over Farkas’s shoulder.
Less than four minutes later, former Cougar Ethan Regnier found himself alone in front of the net off a broken play initiated by Saskatchewan’s Jarrett Penner and buried his second goal in three games.
“It’s obviously pretty special,” Regnier said. “I played there for two years, so I know lots of those guys who are great friends of mine. To get that done at that moment is obviously pretty special.”
Huskies defenceman Ty Prefontaine added an empty net goal for the home side, giving Saskatchewan enough of a cushion to wind out the clock.
In his final Canada West conference game after five seasons with the Huskies, Ball was able to finally raise the W.G. Hardy Trophy — albeit in two pieces after the bowl broke off from the base, shades of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs’ memorable Memorial Cup trophy celebration.
“I’d envisioned that a hundred times over since the beginning of the year,” Ball said. “For it to come true is just an unbelievable moment and I’ll never forget it.”
More than 3,000 fans packed into Merlis Belsher Place on Sunday night as part of a record-breaking weekend of attendance for the Huskies program as supporters watched their team reach the Canada West mountaintop.
Much of the energy was concentrated in the student section, providing a wall of sound that forced a stoppage to repair a broken panel of glass that was knocked loose after Regnier’s goal.
“Best crowd I’ve ever seen, bar none,” Ball said. “They might not know it, but they were a huge help this weekend. Even coming out for warmups and you see the whole student section already filled, it just got everyone fired up and our legs moving a little bit faster.”
The Huskies will be back to work quickly, however, as their final test of the 2024-25 season will come in the nation’s capital for the 2025 University Cup tournament.
“We’ve checked off a lot of boxes this year but there’s still one to check off,” Regnier said. “We’re going to enjoy tonight, have a lot of fun, take a couple of days to rest I’m sure and get back on the ice because we still have that one more to get.”
The 2025 University Cup tournament will run from March 20 to 23 in Ottawa, with the Huskies being joined by Mount Royal out of Canada West.