Lethbridge – After a two year hiatus, the Lethbridge Pronghorn men’s hockey team (7-18-3 CW) returns to the post-season, traveling to Saskatoon to face the CIS seventh ranked Saskatchewan Huskies (19-6-3 CW) in a best-of-three series.
 
Game one of the best-of-three series goes Friday night at 7:00pm, with game two Saturday at 7:00pm and game three, if necessary, will be played Sunday at 7:00pm. All three games will be at Rutherford Arena on University of Saskatchewan campus. Live stats can be found at:  http://www.leaguestat.com/canadawest/mens/en/stats/schedule.php?season_id=22
 
While the Huskies won the season series with the ‘Horns, winning four of the six matchups, the ‘Horns played the Huskies tight and took two of the games to overtime.
Specialty teams will have a huge impact on the series’ result as the matchup features the top two power play units in the conference. The Huskies finished atop with a blistering 25.9% efficiency. The ‘Horns were second at 18.5% but had the most opportunities in the conference with 151.
 
‘Horns get new life
Despite a disappointing conference record the ‘Horns get a chance for redemption with a strong showing in the post-season. The ‘Horns were last in the playoffs during the 2008-09 season and were upset at home by the UBC Thunderbirds in three games.
 
Even though the ‘Horns finished sixth in the conference, they did have some solid wins over top teams in the conference, beating the top team Manitoba Bisons only three weeks ago and two wins over the Huskies, one of which was in Saskatoon.
 
Fifth-year senior Dustin Moore put a stamp on his career this season finishing fifth in the conference in scoring with 29 points in 27 games, and his 16 goals was third in the conference. Moore was also tied for the lead in power play markers with 9 and led Canada West in shots on goal with 155.
 
Winston Day Chief, Taylor Gal and Dan Iwanski all had solid seasons offensively and will be counted on heavily this weekend. Day Chief and Gal both finished with 20 points on the season and Iwanski was fourth on the team in scoring with 18 points.
 
There is no doubt that the key for the ‘Horns to upset the Huskies in this series will be the play of fifth-year goaltender Scott Bowles. Bowles led the conference in minutes played, shots faced and saves and he has shown the ability to steal games throughout his career.
 
Inconsistent Dogs
While the Huskies finished the season riding a four game winning streak, the second half of the season has been inconsistent to say the least. Prior to the four game winning streak, the Huskies had lost four games in a row. The Huskies also had an impressive sweep over the Alberta Golden Bears earlier in January at home.
 
The high scoring Huskies, who scored a conference high 109 goals, finished the regular season with three of the top four scorers in the conference. Defenseman Derek Hulak won the Dave “Sweeney” Schriner Scoring Trophy. Hulak led the conference with 11 goals and 33 assists. Kyle Bortis finished second with 17 goals and 22 assists, while captain Kyle Ross was fourth in Canada West scoring with 33 points (16G, 17A).
 
An intriguing scenario is playing out in the Huskie crease as to who will be given the chance to start this post-season. All season the Huskies have spilt the duties right down the middle, with both Ryan Holfeld and David Reekie playing in 14 games this season with both having virtually identical stats.