Holy Shooting Gallery, Batman!

Canada West men's hockey is one of those sports where there are different levels for teams based on how aggressively they recruit, their own expectations for their season, and the people running the programs. We've seen the Alberta Golden Bears hold a standard that few teams could meet, but the recent emergence of the Saskatchewan Huskies, the Calgary Dinos, and the Mount Royal Cougars gave brought a little more parity to the conference. Tonight, though, the Huskies reminded everyone why they're a level above the Trinity Western Spartans, and, no, that image above is not a mistake.

The Huskies literally threw everything they could at the Spartans tonight as they launched 73 shots on net at Spartans' netminder Raphael Audet which is just an incredible number of shots. You might be asking if that's a record, and it checks that box in a few different ways. It is a regular-season school record for the University of Saskatchewan men's hockey program, but it's not the most in school history. That happened on Feburary 26, 2016 during a playoff game between the Huskies and Calgary Dinos where the Huskies rattled off an incredible 81 shots in a 4-3 double-overtime victory.

And that's only the third-most all-time in Canada West history!

According to the Canada West record books, the most shots ever for one team in a single game came on November 27, 1971 when the Alberta Golden Bears visited the Victoria Vikes and launched 91 shots on net in a 9-0 road win. I went digging through the digital newspaper archives to see if any proof of this game was available, and it seems that the 91-shot performance by the Golden Bears can be confirmed!

As you may have read above, Murray Ridley was the unfortunate Victoria goalie who had the 91 shots fired at him, and there's zero record of whether he stayed in hockey after his time at the University of Victoria. Alberta's Jack Gibson, who had six goals over the two-game set against Victoria, actually did stay in hockey, and he ended up scoring 38 goals and 60 points for the WHA's Toronto Toros over two seasons from 1972-94. This came after three seasons of skating for the Golden Bears before a 15-game, 25-point audition with the Clinton Comets in the EHL. How cool is that bit of history?

The second-most shots in Canada West history also belongs to the Alberta Golden Bears, and they reportedly put 84 pucks on net in a January 18, 1957 game against the Saskatchewan Huskies in a 16-2 home victory. I searched through all the newspaper archives, and I couldn't find any mention of this game in those newspapers, so we're going to have to take Canada West's word for this one. Honestly, I have no doubt that they must have some sort of document that confirms this total. It's just incredible to think 84 shots were taken!

Officially, tonight's shot total slots the Huskies' regular-season record as the fifth-highest all-time in Canada West, tying them with the 2000-01 Lethbridge Pronghorns who put 73 shots up on the Brandon Bobcats on February 3, 2001. That ranks behind the two Golden Bears totals, the playoff performance by the Huskies back in 2016, and the 1969-70 Manitoba Bisons who also hit the 80-shot mark when they put 80 shots on net on January 17, 1970 against the Victoria Vikes.

For those wondering, the 73 shots tonight was not reflective of the final score either as the Huskies needed overtime to get by the Spartans by a 5-4 score. Trinity Western's Matteo Lamoureux scored late with Raphael Audet on the bench to force overtime, but Saskatchewan's Connor Roulette sent everyone home at the 2:06 mark of the extra period when he found the back of the net. The final shot tally, as shown in the lede image, was 73-26 in favour of the Huskies.

Just for fun, the 73 shots that Audet saw tonight is one less than UBC's Brett Mirwald has seen in three games this season. It's rare when you see a shot total as high as that, but it happened tonight at George Preston Arena in Langley, BC as the Huskies peppered the net!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!