Huskies Esports Call of Duty team smashes their way into College CoD Playoffs
The Keyano Huskies Esports Call of Duty team accomplished a major program milestone on Tuesday during their historic qualifier match against the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers. The Huskies went head-to-head against their opponents in a full, five-map set for a chance to qualify for the College Call of Duty League (CCL) playoffs.
The match started off with a nailbiter as the Huskies lost by one mere point on the first Hardpoint map (249-250). “We came into the match with full confidence,” said Brayden Currie, main entry fragger for the Huskies. “We knew that a number of Open Division teams [like the Rangers] had already qualified so we respected them, but that first map showed us just how close we really were.”
With no time to lose before the second map, the Huskies proceeded to go the distance on Search & Destroy, taking down their opponents in the map tiebreaker (6-5). The Huskies carried that momentum into the Control map, taking an early 2-1 lead over the Rangers. An unfortunate slip-up at the end of the fourth round cost the Huskies big-time, and the Rangers stole the point away in the final hour, proceeding to decisively take the map in the following round (2-3). The Huskies were now one game away from playoff disqualification.
After a brief timeout break, the Huskies came back ready to conquer the Hardpoint. The Huskies took an early 70 point lead. From there on out, decisive spawn control from the Huskies left the Rangers scrambling to contest the objectives, eventually leading to a dominant map victory (250-124). Both teams prepared to play their final Search & Destroy map.
A number of quick trades early in the first round forced the Huskies on the defensive. Currie, the last-man-standing for the Huskies, found himself in a 1v2 scenario. With seconds to spare, Currie managed to isolate and take down the remaining Rangers’ players with just enough time to secure the objective.
“Going into the series, we knew [Currie] would be a pivotal player for the team,” said Call of Duty coach Chason Christie. “He plays with a lot of passion and emotion.”
Not moments later, after an attempt at controlling the midsection of the map, three of the Huskies are downed and Currie, once again, is the sole survivor. With perfect execution, Currie finds his window of opportunity and disposes of his opponents in yet another 1v2. Despite all odds, the Huskies managed to pull ahead 2-0 in the map score.
“The team was so electric after those first two rounds,” said Christie. “It felt like we were already on Cloud 9 before the map was over.” The Huskies proceeded to make quick work of their opponents, closing out the map (6-1).
After a grueling back-and-forth match, the Huskies emerged victorious, securing their spot in the CCL playoffs for the first time in program history. The squad progresses to the next round of play as the only team representing Western Canada in the competition.
Thanks to a series of clutch moments from Currie, and solid season performances from teammates Brodie Chandler, Jeremy Corrigal & Jedrek DeGuzman, the Huskies have surpassed nearly every milestone set before them. But Currie feels as though the job isn’t done yet. “It’s the start of the road for us.”
Call of Duty is a First-Person-Shooter (FPS) game where teams of four combatants face off in a best-of-five series across a multitude of map types and game modes. The objective of each map changes from game to game, though all encourage similar tactics and strategies such as controlling a location on the map and defending it from the opposing team. Teams must work together to accomplish each objective in a series of fast-paced, high-intensity bouts before they’re eliminated or time runs out.
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