UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
Huskies bring back bronze medals from nationals

One week after the Huskie women's basketball team won gold at nationals, USask's men's hockey and men's volleyball teams both won bronze-medal games at the national championships in Ottawa and Brandon, Man., over the weekend.

Keaton Sorensen celebrates with USask Huskie men's hockey goaltender Roddy Ross following USask's bronze medal victory on Sunday. (Photo: Courtesy of Greg Mason/Tim Austen, U SPORTS)

After winning their opening game, the Canada West conference champion Huskies men's hockey team bounced back from a tough loss in Saturday's semifinals to the Concordia University Stingers to knock off the Toronto Metropolitan University Bold 4-1 in Sunday's bronze-medal game at this year's University Cup championship in Ottawa.

"For sure, it's an accomplishment just to get here," Huskies head coach Brandin Cote told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. "It's a real tough road for every conference to come out of it. We were lucky to do that. We're proud of that. We're proud of our performance here. We had a tough one (semifinal loss) against Concordia, but it was so tight. They're a great team; anything can happen. I'm proud of our guys' effort, to be able to come and get ready to play, and get this one (bronze) done."

It was the Huskies' first medal at nationals since 2017 when they finished second in the country.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskie men's volleyball team celebrated bronze for their first medal at nationals since 2004. (Photo: Courtesy of U SPORTS)

Meanwhile, the Huskie men's volleyball team also regrouped from a heartbreaking semifinal loss to the host Brandon University Bobcats on Saturday to defeat the Sherbrooke University Vert & Or 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-16) in Sunday's bronze medal match.

"Our main goal was to win nationals this year and when we went back to the hotel, we just talked about it and said, We didn't achieve this goal, what's our next goal?'" Huskies setter Noah Opseth told The Brandon Sun. "We wanted it and guys just put pedal to the metal and didn't look back."

The host Bobcats went on to win to defeat the University of Alberta Golden Bears 3-1 to capture the championship on their home court.

It was the first medal for the Huskies - who will host the U Sports men's volleyball national championship in 2028 - in more than two decades since capturing the gold medal in 2004.