Jordon Cooke made 26 saves as the No. 6 Saskatchewan Huskies upset the No. 2 St. Francis Xavier X-Men 8-0 on Saturday in semifinal action at the Canadian university men’s hockey championship.
Saskatchewan will face the No. 5 University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds on Sunday in the University Cup final. UNB slipped past the No. 8 Acadia Axemen 3-0 in Saturday’s other semi.
Cooke recorded his second straight shutout after blanking the No. 3 York Lions 1-0 in overtime in the quarter-finals.
“When you have guys laying down, blocking shots, that makes my job so much easier,” said Cooke.
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Logan McVeigh led the Saskatchewan offence with a pair of goals. Connor Cox, Jesse Forsberg, Levi Cable, Carson Stadnyk, Parker Thomas and Wyatt Johnson added the others as the Huskies used a six-goal second period to put the game away.
Chase Marchand gave up five goals on 16 to take the loss for StFX.
“Bizarre,” X-Men coach Brad Peddle said about the outcome. “It’s a tough one to explain. First period, we are pretty even. In the second period, they capitalized on every chance we gave them. They brought tight checking and everything they threw at the net seemed to go in.”
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In the other semi, Etienne Marcoux stopped all 20 shots he faced to lead the Varsity Reds past the Axemen.
“Marcoux simplified the game,” said UNB coach Gardiner McDougall. “He kept great body position all game, kept calm.”
Stephen Anderson, Jordan Murray and Phillipe Maillet scored for the Varsity Reds.
Acadia goaltender Robert Steeves stopped 27-of-29 shots.
The Axemen and X-Men will play for bronze on Sunday before the championship game.
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