Esports Huskies claim history, provincial bragging rights in playoff win

The Keyano Huskies Esports Rocket League team marked a bit of history Wednesday night, earning some provincial bragging rights in the process as well.

In their NACE (National Association of Collegiate Esports) conference play-in, they topped the University of Alberta 4-2 in the best-of-seven series, advancing to Thursday night’s Conference Championship against Boise State University with their first-ever playoff series win in the game. 

“It was a really good series; the best series I’ve seen out of them since Brayden [Dang] joined the lineup,” said Huskies Esports head coach Ben Bramly. “They came together, did what they had to.” 

Competing for the Huskies Wednesday were Jared Greenwood (Vitali), Dang (Bang), Conner McGlennan (Volts), and substitute William Nadeau (Grills).

After a 4-0 win in Game One, the Huskies dropped the second and third games. Games Four through Six would belong to the Huskies though, who earned 4-2, 1-0, and another 4-2 win to claim the victory.

“They got a really strong start the first game,” continued Bramly. “Alberta woke up, picked up the pace a little bit, won two out of the next three games, and then we were able to lock things down, close out the series and win it.”

It wasn’t the first time the Huskies had topped their provincial rival. The Huskies finished 8-1 in the nine-game regular season to place second ahead of the third-place squad from Edmonton. That record included a 3-1 best-of-five victory against them in the fourth week of the regular season.

Bramly continued to emphasize the team’s communication and ability to play together as part of their growing success.

“I think that’s definitely one of the biggest things that’s improved,” said Bramly. “I know coming into the season, everyone had competitive experience but had kind of done things their own way and it was a bit of a struggle getting everyone on the same game plan and communicating effectively.

“Last night was a good showing of them being able to do that, being able to talk to each other and communicate when they needed to.”

In Thursday’s Conference Championship, the Huskies will take on the undefeated Boise State. While the Huskies went down to defeat in their lone meeting of the regular season, Bramly was confident his team could take the win if they replicated Wednesday’s performance.

The Esports Huskies and Boise State will square off Thursday starting at 6:00 p.m. MT.

Action will be livestreamed at https://m.twitch.tv/BoiseState.