Men's Futsal Huskies eager to make quick impression

Another futsal season has arrived in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) and the Keyano Huskies Men’s Futsal side are eager to once again place themselves among the best the conference has to offer.

This season’s futsal schedule reflects the measured approach to a unique season for those around the conference.

Instead of the usual warmup tournaments, the conference’s 12 teams will play four games each in four divisions of three teams. For the winner, there’s a spot in the ACAC Championship while the other two will have their seasons ended early.

That puts the pressure on clubs to perform early and often to qualify for the right to play for a medal.

“We’re going to go in, play hard,” student-athlete Caleb Kehler said. “We know we’ve been practicing well. We’ve learned everything we need to learn.

“[If we] just stick to our tactics, I know we can come out with two wins.”

Playing in the North East Division, the Huskies will battle for the top spot against the Lakeland Rustlers and Portage Voyageurs. They’ll play a pair of games Saturday followed by two more games on Saturday, February 19.

“We only play each other twice so this first game matters right away,” Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. “It’s a lot of pressure so we’ll see what that looks like.”

It has been a while since futsal was last contested in the ACAC, with the Huskies winning it all in the 2018-19 campaign to make it back-to-back titles. Overall, they’ve won six of the nine titles awarded since it was first awarded in the 2010-11 campaign.

Now, new players will look to mark their own legacy with the program and it comes with gaining more experience in a sport that rewards finesse and technical skill in the condensed playing surface.

“Truthfully, I haven’t had much experience; here and there in school soccer we had a bit of experience,” Kehler said. “Here, I’ve learned so much more and I’m so excited to play.”

That plays into Slotboom’s preparations, which has focused on educating his soccer players about the sport’s finer points.

“We had a little bit of a learning curve, not a lot of people who have played the sport,” Slotboom said. “We had a lot of educating to do in that aspect. I think we’re ready for it. This weekend will be interesting to see what we look like.”

The Huskies will open their ACAC Futsal schedule on Saturday, February 5 at the Bold Center in Lac La Biche, Alta. The Huskies will face the Rustlers at 2:15 p.m. before taking on the Voyageurs at 5:15 p.m.