Second Time Ever

The Saskatchewan Huskies men's team have always prided themselves on their great goaltending. They had Jordon Cooke for the longest time as he was routinely seen as the best netminder as the conference, and his graduation has allowed Taran Kozun to step in and fill the void after his days in the WHL ended. Kozun, pictured to the above-left, has done all sorts of amazing things while wearing the green-and-white, and tonight may have been his best performance in the Saskatchewan crease despite there still being games left on the schedule!

Kozun, who last season broke the Canada West record for longest consecutive regular season shutout streak that totaled 267:32 minutes, decided to add a little offensive flair tonight to his great defensive play in defending the Saskatchewan net as his memorable January events continued!

Taran Kozun becomes just the second goaltending in Canada West history and the first goaltender in University of Saskatchewan history to score a goal! Kozun joins former Alberta Golden Bears netminder Ken Mucha as the only two men in the history of western Canada's men's university hockey to find the back of the net, but Kozun can be credited as the first goalie to actually shoot the puck the length of the ice for a goal!

Mucha's goal came on a delayed penalty call after a Lethbridge Pronghorns forward attempted to bank a puck off the boards back to a defenceman, but missed the angle that allowed the puck to slide the length of the ice into the net abandoned for the extra attacker. In 102 seasons of conference play, Canada West has only had two goalies score, and Kozun is the only one to have shot the puck himself into an opposition's goal. That's a pretty cool statistic for any goaltender to wear, and Kozun absolutely deserves, after all he's done as a Huskie, to have an asterisk beside his name as the first goalie to record a goal with a shot on net.

What makes Kozun's achievement a little more incredible is that not only did he score the final goal of the weekend series against the Dinos, but he also shut them out in both games they played, extending Saskatchewan's win streak to five games, moving them four points ahead of the Dinos for second-place which comes with a first-round bye in the playoffs, and pushes his personal record this season to 13-3-2 to go along with a 1.96 GAA, a .929 save percentage, and four shutouts. That would be first in wins, second in GAA, first in save percentage, and first in shutouts among all Canada West netminders! Does anyone see Taran Kozun not winning the Canada West Goaltender of the Year award after he moved into a tie for 110th-overall in goal scoring?

All joking aside, congratulations to Taran Kozun of the Saskatchewan Huskies for this historic moment in his career and in the history of the Huskies!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!