Huskies capture conference titles on way to nationals

More than 11,500 fans crammed into the stands at Merlis Belsher Place and the Physical Activity Complex over the weekend to watch the Huskies men’s hockey and women’s basketball teams capture Canada West conference titles on their way to nationals. Both Huskie men’s and women’s volleyball teams have also booked their trips to the U Sports national championships after competing in the conference Final Four tournaments this past weekend. 
 
On Sunday night, the Huskie men’s hockey team shut out the Mount Royal University Cougars 3-0 in the third and deciding game of the Canada West championship, played in front of a third consecutive sell-out crowd of more than 3,000 fans at Merlis Belsher Place. The Huskies now head east to Ottawa for the national championship on March 20-23. 
 
“It’s an unbelievable feeling as a coach,” said Huskies head coach and 2025 Canada West men’s hockey coach of the year Brandin Cote. “It’s just rewarding to see everything culminate and come together and all the buy-in from our guys all year. We stuck with it and I’m really, really proud of our guys.” 
 
Meanwhile over at the Physical Activity Complex on Saturday night, a capacity crowd of 2,475 at the Ron and Jane Graham Centre Court in the PAC celebrated the Huskie women’s basketball team’s 71-59 victory over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds to capture their 10th conference championship. The Huskies will now head to the national championship this week (March 13-16) in Vancouver as the No.1 seed. 

“I think we learned lots from this one and it’ll push us to another level,” Huskies head coach and Canada West coach of the year Lisa Thomaidis told reporters after the game. “I think we’re going to learn from this. It definitely feels good, we had some different people have to step up tonight and you can only gain confidence from that.” 
 
In Winnipeg, the Huskie men’s volleyball team clinched a berth in the U Sports championship by beating the UBC Thunderbirds 3-2 (22-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-12) in a marathon match in the Canada West Final Four bronze medal game. The Huskies now head to Brandon, Man., to compete in the national championship from March 21-23. 
 
“The Dogs don’t just go away and tonight the boys embodied that,” said Huskies head coach Sean McKay. “Incredible finish for an incredible group of young men.” 
 
In Edmonton over the weekend, the Huskie women’s volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-18, 22-24, 25-16, 25-18) to the University of Manitoba Bisons in the bronze medal match at the Canada West Final Four, but had already clinched a berth to the U Sports championships and will head to Winnipeg for nationals this week (March 14-16). 
 
Despite the loss, Huskies head coach Mark Dodds was proud of the way his players competed. 
 
"We executed much better, so definitely proud of my team for how they came out and performed today,” he said. 
 
In other action over the weekend, the Huskie women’s track and field team captured the bronze medal at the national championships in Windsor, Ont., compiling a total of 74 points to finish third in the team competition. The Huskies won a Canada West record seventh straight conference championship title in Regina on Feb. 22. Meanwhile, USask’s men’s track and field squad finished 22nd at nationals, with a total of six points in the team standings. Full individual medal results are posted here. 
 
More coverage of the Huskie hockey championship victory is available on the Saskatoon StarPhoenix website, while you can also read more about the Huskie basketball victory here.