Jaime Lammerding
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
An upset victory by the Calgary Dinos ended the University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ win streak at the worst possible time.
The Dinos beat the Huskie women’s basketball team 61-58 Saturday, snapping Saskatchewan’s 51-game win streak and placing their national-championship hopes in limbo. The victory sends the Dinos to next weekend’s Canada West final against the UBC Thunderbirds, who beat Regina 74-68 on Friday.
There is still a chance the Huskies could continue their season through an at-large berth for the U Sports Championship. The Thunderbirds and Dinos have both clinched national spots, but a third chance exists through the U Sports at-large berth. On Saturday, the two teams battled back-and-forth throughout the evening. When one got ahead, the other battled back and took the lead themselves, only for the gap to close once again.
Early in the final quarter, Saskatchewan — which went 20-0 during the regular season — took the one-point lead, 48-47, on a free throw from Andrea Dodig, but a two-pointer by Calgary’s Christine Geraldo eight seconds later put the visitors ahead and they never trailed again.
Dodig led both teams with 16 points, while Geraldo and teammate Amelie Collin had 15 points each for the Dinos, who were 16-4 during the regular season.
In other basketball news, Canada West announced their all-star teams, with three Huskies earning spots.
On the women’s side, Gage Grassick received first team honours, while Maya Flindall was named to the second team, as was Easton Thimm on the men’s side.
Track and Field
For the eighth time in a row, the Saskatchewan Huskies are the Canada West women’s track and field champions.
The Huskies tallied a 186-point performance, helped along by seven gold medals from Nicole Ostertag (60-metre hurdles), Hailee Woodhouse (300-m race), Hannah Hagerty (long jump), Kailee Woitas (60-m dash) and Olamide Olaloku (triple), as well as the 4×200-m and 4×400-m relay teams.
Ostertag set a Canada West record with her time of 8.07 seconds. Olaloku broke a conference record with her distance of 12.73 metres, and Hagerty’s distance of 6.30 metres set a program record. On top of that, the 4×200-metre relay team, which featured Grace Igbiki, Selena Keyowski, Emma Egert and Woodhouse, broke a pair of records — conference and Canadian— with a time of 1:35.75.
On the men’s side, Saskatchewan finished fourth overall with 103 points and got gold medals from Nathan Pinno (shot put), Liam Oster (60-m hurdles) and Ashwin Witt (pole vault).
Canada West major awards were also handed out on the weekend and saw a quad of Huskies earn accolades with Woodhouse being named women’s rookie of the year and Joshua Tam earning the men’s community service award, while Karlyn Wells is women’s assistant coach of the year and Jason Reindl is women’s head coach of the year.
The Huskies will now turn their attention to the U Sports Championships, March 5-7 in Winnipeg.
Hockey
The men’s hockey Dogs are headed for the Canada West semifinals after winning their best-of-three quarterfinal series over the visiting Alberta Golden Bears in a pair of games over the weekend.
In Game 1 on Friday night, Huskie goaltender Nolan Maier stopped all 30 shots he faced to earn the shutout and help his team to a 5-0 victory. Chantz Petruic had a pair of goals, while Connor Roulette, Jarrett Penner and Liam Keeler each added one.
On Saturday night, just over 10 minutes into overtime, Keaton Sorenson scored to claim the 3-2 win for Saskatchewan and clinch a spot in the semifinals.
Saskatchewan had the first two goals of the game thanks to Roulette in the first period and Josh Pillar in the second, but Alberta closed the gap late in the second period and then scored a power-play goal with 52 seconds left in regulation to tie and send the game to the extra frame.
The Huskies will go on the road for their best-of-three semifinal series as they take on the UBC Thunderbirds Feb. 27 to March 1.
Volleyball
A pair of victories in their play-in best-of-three series with the visiting Brandon Bobcats has earned the Saskatchewan men’s volleyball team a spot in next week’s Canada West quarterfinals.
Led by 15 kills from Noah Opseth on Friday night, Saskatchewan won the opening game in three straight sets 25-16, 25-19 and 25-21. They needed an extra set the following night, but won 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 27-25 and 25-17) with Isaiah Mamer picking up a team-high 16 kills.
Up next, both the Huskie men’s team and women’s team —who had a bye through the play-in round— will travel to Langley for best-of-three quarterfinal matchups with the Trinity Western Spartans Feb. 27 to March 1.
Saskatchewan Rush defeat Philadelphia Wings
Despite ending the first quarter down 3-0, the Saskatchewan Rush pulled out a decisive 14-6 victory over the host Philadelphia Wings on Sunday afternoon in National Lacrosse League action to move to 10-1 in the standings.
The Rush got on the scoreboard in the second quarter with four goals, while Philadelphia added a single, leaving the two teams tied at four at halftime.
The two teams exchanged scores to open the third quarter, but Saskatchewan’s Robert Church found the back of the net two minutes and 23 seconds into the frame to give his team the 6-5 lead, which they didn’t relinquish again.
After entering the final quarter with an 8-6 lead, the Rush nearly doubled their total by scoring six-straight goals to wrap up the game.
Ryan Keenan led the way offensively for Saskatchewan with four goals and four assists, while Austin Shanks had a hat trick.
Saskatchewan plays a pair of road games next weekend, taking on the Buffalo Bandits Friday and the Rochester Knighthawks Saturday.
Saskatchewan athletes headed home from Olympic Games
The 2026 Olympic Winter Games wrapped up on Sunday and four athletes with Saskatchewan connections are returning home with hardware.
Competing with the Canadian men’s curling team, Regina’s Ben Hebert claimed gold for the second time after first finishing atop the podium at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
At the hockey rink, Saskatoon’s Emily Clark earned her third Olympic medal, a silver, with the women’s team, while Saskatoon-raised Darcy Kuemper and Saskatoon-born Brandon Hagel also earned silver in their Olympic debuts with the men’s team.
In skiing, Saskatoon’s Maia Schwinghammer attended her first Games, finishing fifth in the single moguls and finishing top 16 in the dual event.
Regina’s Mark McMorris finished eighth overall in the men’s snowboard slopestyle event in his fourth Games, after not being able to compete in the big air event as a result of a crash during training.
Wrapping up the athlete results is Regina’s Logan Pletz, who competed in four biathlon events in his Olympic debut, with a variety of results.
Up next will be the Paralympic Winter Games from March 6-15, with Prince Albert cross country and biathlon athlete Brittany Hudak set to attend her fourth Games, while Kipling wheelchair curler Gil Dash will make his debut.
