It was quite the season for the University of Alberta men’s hockey team. After posting the most victories during the CIS regular season (25) and winning the Canada West conference, the Golden Bears snapped a six-year championship drought at the 2014 PotashCorp University Cup on the weekend.
The country’s most-successful program is once again tops in the CIS, but one of the more surprising storylines from their championship season is that they took a radical approach with their goaltending rotation en route to the title.
Coming into the 2013-14 season, Kurtis Mucha was the clear-cut No. 1 between the pipes. Despite disappointment at the 2013 University Cup, Mucha had a record-setting season in 2012-13. The Sherwood Park, AB native was named the CIS Goaltender of the Year, posting a 1.30 goals against average and .936 save percentage while recording five consecutive shutouts spanning 335:06. It was an impressive display to secure his No. 1 status in front of first-year head coach Ian Herbers.
Enter Luke Siemens.
After being recruited by 15-20 university teams, Siemens thought the University of Alberta would be a great fit for him. He too was coming off a successful year. In his final season in the Western Hockey League, Siemens was named Prince Albert Raiders’ regular season and playoff MVP. Not much was to be expected from him in his freshman season at U of A with the return of the top goalie in the country, but he provided much more than anyone anticipated.
To start the season, Herbers went with his MVP from the previous year. While Mucha recorded a shutout in the opener, Herbers opted for his freshman goalie, Siemens, for the second game. Siemens matched Mucha’s efforts with a shutout of his own in his first CIS regular-season game. And so the pattern began – wash, rinse, repeat. The two goalies alternated starting games and the results would be the same. Mucha would open the weekend, starting a Friday-night game, and Siemens would get the next start. This cycle continued throughout the regular season, minus a short span when Siemens was sidelined due to injury.
As a result of sharing the net, each goalie played under 1,000 minutes during the regular season. Compare that with University of Saskatchewan’s Ryan Holfeld, who started 26 games for the Huskies, totalling 1,565 minutes played. That kind of goaltending rotation is very rare at most levels of the game.
Imagine an NHL team flipping back and forth between goaltenders, from game to game, regardless of the outcome. It would never happen. Picture Roberto Luongo winning the semifinal game for Team Canada at the Sochi Olympics, only to have Carey Price in net for the gold-medal game. Teams prefer to establish a clear No. 1 goalie. Or maybe a coach opts for the “win-and-you’re-in” method of riding the hot hand. But no teams outside of minor hockey actually use the game-for-game approach the whole season, do they?
That’s what Herbers did with the Golden Bears and it did not end in the regular season. The veteran Mucha was given Game One of the playoffs, with Siemens stepping in for Game Two. They each posted two wins. But why stop there? The trend continued this weekend at the University Cup, where the Golden Bears were looking to snap their championship slump. Six years without a CIS title may not seem like a slump, but to the country’s most-successful program, it was far too long.
Mucha again got the nod in the first game against the Carleton Ravens and kicked aside 15 saves to squeeze out a 3-2 win. Two nights later, it was Siemens’ turn in what would turn out to be the national semifinal against OUA East champions McGill Redmen. Siemens outlasted the Redmen in an exciting double-overtime victory, sending his team back to the national final for the 19th time, a place they haven’t been since 2009-10. Mucha didn’t disappoint, backstopping his team Sunday to a 3-1 victory over tournament hosts University of Saskatchewan Huskies. It was a record 14th University Cup for the University of Alberta.
Of course, the team’s depth wasn’t limited to just between the pipes. All season long, head coach Herbers talked about playing a fast-pace, aggressive style and the depth in his entire line-up allowed him to do so. On a team that averaged over five goals a game, there were eight players with over a point-per-game during the regular season. On defence, U of A had Canada West’s top defenceman in Jordan Rowley, perennial all-star Jesse Craige and two fifth-year stalwarts in Colin Joe and Ian Barteaux. Depth was key for the Golden Bears this year.
Whatever the slump-busting secret was for U of A, it will be a long time before you see another championship team use that type of goalie rotation. There was no Goaltender of the Year award for the Golden Bears this year — not even a first-team all-star. But it’s great teams that win championships, not great players. And splitting the goaltending responsibilities between Mucha and Siemens was a perfect example of teamwork.