Canada West Hockey Release November 28, 2005
RELEASE #2005-06-12 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2005
ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN SWEEP AGAIN
LETHBRIDGE ENDS TEN-GAME WINLESS STREAK WITH WIN AT CALGARY
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies and University of Alberta Golden Bears solidified their holds on the division leads in Canada West Hockey with two-game road sweeps on Friday-Saturday, November 25th-26th. Saskatchewan took both games of its road series at Winnipeg, defeating the University of Manitoba Bisons 4-0 and 5-2 to move 10 points in front of the second place Bisons in the conference’s Great Plains Division. In the Mountain Division, the Golden Bears moved three points ahead of the University of Calgary Dinos with 6-4 and 6-5 road victories over the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver.
The third series of the weekend saw Calgary split its home-and-home series with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, with both teams winning on the road. The Dinos took the series opener in Lethbridge with a 6-2 victory on Friday and the Pronghorns returned the favor with a 4-2 win in Calgary on Saturday.
With the two wins over Manitoba, Saskatchewan is now 4-0-0 against the Bisons in Canada West Hockey play this season and the Huskies are atop the conference’s overall standings with an 11-2-3 record. Undefeated in their last 13 games (11-0-2; Oct. 21-Nov. 26), the Huskies are 10 points in front of Manitoba in the Great Plains Division and eight points ahead of Alberta in the overall standings.
With a week remaining in the schedule prior to the Christmas break, Alberta has improved its season mark to 8-3-1 and the Golden Bears are three points ahead of Calgary in the Mountain Division standings with two games in hand. The Golden Bears have played the fewest games among the conference’s seven teams.
In Winnipeg, freshman goaltender Jeff Harvey made 22 saves to register his third shutout of the season as Saskatchewan opened its series at Manitoba with a 4-0 victory on Friday. With the shutout, Harvey lowered his goals-against average to a conference leading 1.56 in seven conference games and improved his record to 5-1-1 with a .944 save percentage. He leads Canada West Hockey in each of the three categories in both conference and overall play.
On Saturday, the line of Dean Beuker (1-2-3), Brent Twordik (0-3-3) and Jeff Schmidt (2-0-2) combined to score eight points and three of the Huskies five goals in a 5-2 win. Schmidt opened the scoring just 25 seconds after the opening face-off and rounded out the Huskies scoring in the third period. Beuker, who also scored once in Friday’s victory, netted the game winning goal with a second period shorthanded goal. Paul Deniset tallied both Manitoba goals in the loss, including a second period powerplay goal.
Nine of Alberta’s 12 goals versus UBC came in the second period as the Golden Bears scored five times in Friday’s middle frame and added four more on Saturday. Alberta erased a 1-0 deficit on Friday with its five goal outburst and Saturday’s four goals broke open a 2-2 tie. Tim Krymusa, returning to the lineup after missing nine games with a wrist injury, scored twice during Alberta’s second period on Friday and also had an assist in Saturday’s victory.
Krymusa’s two-goal game was the only multiple goal game of the series for Alberta as nine other Golden Bears scored one goal. Justin Wallin netted single goals in each game for the Golden Bears and defenceman Perry Johnson scored 1-1-2 in the series finale.
Darrell May was UBC’s offensive leader with five assists in the series. May, who leads the Thunderbirds in scoring with 5-9-14 in 14 games, scored three assists on Friday and added two more on Saturday. Steve Bunney contributed four points for UBC with a goal and an assist in each game. Three of Bunney’s four points, including both goals, came on the powerplay as UBC went four for 12 with the man advantage, including three powerplay goals in the series opener.
Ryan Annesley’s five point game was the difference for Calgary in the Dinos’ 6-2 win at Lethbridge on Friday. Annesley assisted on three of the Dinos four first period goals, including Wes Reid’s game winner, as Calgary took a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Lethbridge would draw to within two goals of Calgary on goals by Logan Lavorato and Andrew Switzer before Annesley would score twice in the third period. On Saturday, the roles were reversed as Lethbridge scored the game’s first three goals. The Pronghorns took a 3-0 lead by the 17:30 mark of the first period with Shaun Norrie scoring twice. Norrie opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal 2:36 into the first period and then scored his second goal of the game with a powerplay tally at 12:31. Pronghorns captain, Jay Langager, increased the lead to 3-0 with a second powerplay goal, giving the defenceman a goal and an assist. Brett O’Malley scored both goals for the Dinos while Chad Rideout netted the Pronghorns’ fourth goal.
Freshman netminder Brendon Highton made 45 saves to earn the victory in the Lethbridge goal for his first career Canada West Hockey victory.
The victory was the Pronghorns first since October and ended an 10-game winless streak that had seen Lethbridge compile a 0-8-2 record from October 15th to November 25th.
The final week of the season’s first half will see three series on tap as Alberta hosts Lethbridge at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Manitoba visits Regina and Calgary travels to Vancouver to take on UBC. Following these three series, Canada West Hockey will take its annual Christmas break before the conference schedule resumes on the weekend of Friday-Saturday, January 6th-7th.
Although there will be no conference play over the Christmas holidays, the teams will not be idle as Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge and Manitoba will be involved in holiday tournaments or non-conference play.
Tournament play will see Lethbridge face-off against the University of Guelph Gryphons (OUA) and Augustana University Vikings (ACAC) in the 25th annual Viking Cup tournament from December 26th to January 1st in Camrose, Alberta, while Manitoba travels east to Fredericton, New Brunswick to skate in the Pete Kelly Classic hosted by the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds on December 28th to 31st. Calgary returns to Thunder Bay, Ontario to skate at Lakehead University’s 4th Annual Varsity Cup tournament against the St. Francis Xavier X-Men (AUS), Lake Superior State University Lakers (CCHA) and the host Lakehead Thunderwolves (OUA) from December 28th to 31st.
Alberta will host the Acadia University Axemen in a two-game non-conference series on December 29th and 30th.
CANADA WEST HOCKEY PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Freshman goaltenderBRENDON HIGHTON of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns has been named the Canada West Hockey Player of the Week for the week ending November 27, 2005. The 6'0", 195-pound Business Management student from Kitimat, British Columbia made 45 saves in his Canada West Hockey debut as he backstopped the Pronghorns to a 4-2 road victory over the University of Calgary Dinos on Saturday, November 26th. HIGHTON, who last saw game action in a 5-4 OT loss to the Dinos on September 30th at the 23rd Annual Golden Bears-Brick Invitational, stopped all but two of the 47 Calgary shots he faced as Lethbridge was outshot 47-25, including 16-4 in the third period. The win was HIGHTON’s first career conference victory and it ended a 10-game winless streak that had seen the Pronghorns go 0-8-2 from October 15th to November 25th. With the win, HIGHTON is 1-0-0 in Canada West Hockey conference play with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage. Overall, he is 2-2-0 with a 2.84 GAA and .926 save percentage in four games this season.
CANADA WEST HOCKEY STANDINGS
(As of December 2, 2005)
OT SHO 10+
GREAT PLAINS DIVISION GP W L T GF GA PTS PCT. HOME AWAY W-L-T F-A F-A
Saskatchewan 16 11 2 3 66 30 25 .781 5-1-2 6-1-1 0-0-3 2-0 0-0
Manitoba 16 7 8 1 42 46 15 .469 3-5-0 4-3-1 0-1-1 1-1 0-0
Regina 14 5 7 2 37 49 12 .429 2-3-1 3-4-1 0-2-2 1-0 0-0
OT SHO 10+
MOUNTAIN DIVISION GP W L T GF GA PTS PCT. HOME AWAY W-L-T F-A F-A
Alberta 12 8 3 1 45 31 17 .708 5-0-0 3-3-1 1-0-1 1-1 0-0
Calgary 14 6 6 2 44 46 14 .500 2-4-1 4-2-1 0-0-2 1-1 0-0
British Columbia 14 4 9 1 37 57 9 .321 2-5-1 2-4-0 2-0-1 0-1 0-0
Lethbridge 14 3 9 2 39 51 8 .286 1-6-1 2-3-1 0-0-2 0-2 0-0
CANADA WEST HOCKEY OVERALL STANDINGS
TEAM GP W-L-T GF GA PTS PCT.
Saskatchewan 24 18-3-3 106 50 39 .813
Alberta 19 13-5-1 69 44 27 .711
Calgary 20 10-8-2 61 65 22 .550
British Columbia 19 8-10-1 57 63 17 .447
Manitoba 21 8-12-1 53 72 17 .405
Regina 20 7-11-2 56 73 16 .400
Lethbridge 20 5-13-2 51 71 12 .300
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES
18-3-3 Overall (Home 8-1-2; Away 8-2-1; Neutral 1-0-0)
11-2-3 Canada West Hockey (Home 5-1-2, Away 6-1-1)
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES
18-3-3 Overall (Home 8-1-2; Away 8-2-1; Neutral 1-0-0)
11-2-3 Canada West Hockey (Home 5-1-2, Away 6-1-1)
PLAYER GP G-A-PTS P-PIM
Dean Beuker 16 13-15-28 2-4
Brent Twordik 16 4-15-19 9-18
Keegan McAvoy 16 2-17-19 7-22
Trent Adamus 16 10-6-16 11-22
Curtis Austring 16 6-8-14 12-24
Matt Girling 16 6-7-13 12-24
Stephen Mann 16 5-5-10 3-6
Jeff Schmidt 16 5-4-9 8-35
Mason Wallin 12 3-5-8 6-12
Bryce Thoma 16 1-7-8 11-30
Colin Johnson 16 1-6-7 3-14
Garett Soparlo 16 3-3-6 9-26
Alekcei McAvoy 16 4-1-5 3-6
Derek Endicott 16 2-2-4 18-36
Bruce Harrison 16 1-3-4 8-16
Matt Bergen 9 0-1-1 0-0
Brett Dickie 8 0-1-1 0-0
Evan Folden 16 0-1-1 9-26
Shawn Langen 1 0-0-0 0-0
Jeff Harvey 7 0-0-0 1-2
Thomas Vicars 9 0-0-0 0-0
Scott Roy 16 0-0-0 11-30
Bench 16 - 1-2
GOALTENDER GPI MIN GA EN GAA. SO W-L-T PCT. SHA SVS PCT.
Jeff Harvey 7 423:29 11 0 1.56 2 5-1-1 .786 198 187 .944
Thomas Vicars 9 550:00 19 0 2.07 0 6-1-2 .778 267 248 .929
SASKATCHEWAN TOTALS 16 975:00 30 0 1.88 2 11-2-3 .781 465 435 .935
ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN SWEEP AGAIN
LETHBRIDGE ENDS TEN-GAME WINLESS STREAK WITH WIN AT CALGARY
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies and University of Alberta Golden Bears solidified their holds on the division leads in Canada West Hockey with two-game road sweeps on Friday-Saturday, November 25th-26th. Saskatchewan took both games of its road series at Winnipeg, defeating the University of Manitoba Bisons 4-0 and 5-2 to move 10 points in front of the second place Bisons in the conference’s Great Plains Division. In the Mountain Division, the Golden Bears moved three points ahead of the University of Calgary Dinos with 6-4 and 6-5 road victories over the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver.
The third series of the weekend saw Calgary split its home-and-home series with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, with both teams winning on the road. The Dinos took the series opener in Lethbridge with a 6-2 victory on Friday and the Pronghorns returned the favor with a 4-2 win in Calgary on Saturday.
With the two wins over Manitoba, Saskatchewan is now 4-0-0 against the Bisons in Canada West Hockey play this season and the Huskies are atop the conference’s overall standings with an 11-2-3 record. Undefeated in their last 13 games (11-0-2; Oct. 21-Nov. 26), the Huskies are 10 points in front of Manitoba in the Great Plains Division and eight points ahead of Alberta in the overall standings.
With a week remaining in the schedule prior to the Christmas break, Alberta has improved its season mark to 8-3-1 and the Golden Bears are three points ahead of Calgary in the Mountain Division standings with two games in hand. The Golden Bears have played the fewest games among the conference’s seven teams.
In Winnipeg, freshman goaltender Jeff Harvey made 22 saves to register his third shutout of the season as Saskatchewan opened its series at Manitoba with a 4-0 victory on Friday. With the shutout, Harvey lowered his goals-against average to a conference leading 1.56 in seven conference games and improved his record to 5-1-1 with a .944 save percentage. He leads Canada West Hockey in each of the three categories in both conference and overall play.
On Saturday, the line of Dean Beuker (1-2-3), Brent Twordik (0-3-3) and Jeff Schmidt (2-0-2) combined to score eight points and three of the Huskies five goals in a 5-2 win. Schmidt opened the scoring just 25 seconds after the opening face-off and rounded out the Huskies scoring in the third period. Beuker, who also scored once in Friday’s victory, netted the game winning goal with a second period shorthanded goal. Paul Deniset tallied both Manitoba goals in the loss, including a second period powerplay goal.
Nine of Alberta’s 12 goals versus UBC came in the second period as the Golden Bears scored five times in Friday’s middle frame and added four more on Saturday. Alberta erased a 1-0 deficit on Friday with its five goal outburst and Saturday’s four goals broke open a 2-2 tie. Tim Krymusa, returning to the lineup after missing nine games with a wrist injury, scored twice during Alberta’s second period on Friday and also had an assist in Saturday’s victory.
Krymusa’s two-goal game was the only multiple goal game of the series for Alberta as nine other Golden Bears scored one goal. Justin Wallin netted single goals in each game for the Golden Bears and defenceman Perry Johnson scored 1-1-2 in the series finale.
Darrell May was UBC’s offensive leader with five assists in the series. May, who leads the Thunderbirds in scoring with 5-9-14 in 14 games, scored three assists on Friday and added two more on Saturday. Steve Bunney contributed four points for UBC with a goal and an assist in each game. Three of Bunney’s four points, including both goals, came on the powerplay as UBC went four for 12 with the man advantage, including three powerplay goals in the series opener.
Ryan Annesley’s five point game was the difference for Calgary in the Dinos’ 6-2 win at Lethbridge on Friday. Annesley assisted on three of the Dinos four first period goals, including Wes Reid’s game winner, as Calgary took a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Lethbridge would draw to within two goals of Calgary on goals by Logan Lavorato and Andrew Switzer before Annesley would score twice in the third period. On Saturday, the roles were reversed as Lethbridge scored the game’s first three goals. The Pronghorns took a 3-0 lead by the 17:30 mark of the first period with Shaun Norrie scoring twice. Norrie opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal 2:36 into the first period and then scored his second goal of the game with a powerplay tally at 12:31. Pronghorns captain, Jay Langager, increased the lead to 3-0 with a second powerplay goal, giving the defenceman a goal and an assist. Brett O’Malley scored both goals for the Dinos while Chad Rideout netted the Pronghorns’ fourth goal.
Freshman netminder Brendon Highton made 45 saves to earn the victory in the Lethbridge goal for his first career Canada West Hockey victory.
The victory was the Pronghorns first since October and ended an 10-game winless streak that had seen Lethbridge compile a 0-8-2 record from October 15th to November 25th.
The final week of the season’s first half will see three series on tap as Alberta hosts Lethbridge at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Manitoba visits Regina and Calgary travels to Vancouver to take on UBC. Following these three series, Canada West Hockey will take its annual Christmas break before the conference schedule resumes on the weekend of Friday-Saturday, January 6th-7th.
Although there will be no conference play over the Christmas holidays, the teams will not be idle as Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge and Manitoba will be involved in holiday tournaments or non-conference play.
Tournament play will see Lethbridge face-off against the University of Guelph Gryphons (OUA) and Augustana University Vikings (ACAC) in the 25th annual Viking Cup tournament from December 26th to January 1st in Camrose, Alberta, while Manitoba travels east to Fredericton, New Brunswick to skate in the Pete Kelly Classic hosted by the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds on December 28th to 31st. Calgary returns to Thunder Bay, Ontario to skate at Lakehead University’s 4th Annual Varsity Cup tournament against the St. Francis Xavier X-Men (AUS), Lake Superior State University Lakers (CCHA) and the host Lakehead Thunderwolves (OUA) from December 28th to 31st.
Alberta will host the Acadia University Axemen in a two-game non-conference series on December 29th and 30th.
CANADA WEST HOCKEY PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Freshman goaltenderBRENDON HIGHTON of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns has been named the Canada West Hockey Player of the Week for the week ending November 27, 2005. The 6'0", 195-pound Business Management student from Kitimat, British Columbia made 45 saves in his Canada West Hockey debut as he backstopped the Pronghorns to a 4-2 road victory over the University of Calgary Dinos on Saturday, November 26th. HIGHTON, who last saw game action in a 5-4 OT loss to the Dinos on September 30th at the 23rd Annual Golden Bears-Brick Invitational, stopped all but two of the 47 Calgary shots he faced as Lethbridge was outshot 47-25, including 16-4 in the third period. The win was HIGHTON’s first career conference victory and it ended a 10-game winless streak that had seen the Pronghorns go 0-8-2 from October 15th to November 25th. With the win, HIGHTON is 1-0-0 in Canada West Hockey conference play with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage. Overall, he is 2-2-0 with a 2.84 GAA and .926 save percentage in four games this season.
CANADA WEST HOCKEY STANDINGS
(As of December 2, 2005)
OT SHO 10+
GREAT PLAINS DIVISION GP W L T GF GA PTS PCT. HOME AWAY W-L-T F-A F-A
Saskatchewan 16 11 2 3 66 30 25 .781 5-1-2 6-1-1 0-0-3 2-0 0-0
Manitoba 16 7 8 1 42 46 15 .469 3-5-0 4-3-1 0-1-1 1-1 0-0
Regina 14 5 7 2 37 49 12 .429 2-3-1 3-4-1 0-2-2 1-0 0-0
OT SHO 10+
MOUNTAIN DIVISION GP W L T GF GA PTS PCT. HOME AWAY W-L-T F-A F-A
Alberta 12 8 3 1 45 31 17 .708 5-0-0 3-3-1 1-0-1 1-1 0-0
Calgary 14 6 6 2 44 46 14 .500 2-4-1 4-2-1 0-0-2 1-1 0-0
British Columbia 14 4 9 1 37 57 9 .321 2-5-1 2-4-0 2-0-1 0-1 0-0
Lethbridge 14 3 9 2 39 51 8 .286 1-6-1 2-3-1 0-0-2 0-2 0-0
CANADA WEST HOCKEY OVERALL STANDINGS
TEAM GP W-L-T GF GA PTS PCT.
Saskatchewan 24 18-3-3 106 50 39 .813
Alberta 19 13-5-1 69 44 27 .711
Calgary 20 10-8-2 61 65 22 .550
British Columbia 19 8-10-1 57 63 17 .447
Manitoba 21 8-12-1 53 72 17 .405
Regina 20 7-11-2 56 73 16 .400
Lethbridge 20 5-13-2 51 71 12 .300
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES
18-3-3 Overall (Home 8-1-2; Away 8-2-1; Neutral 1-0-0)
11-2-3 Canada West Hockey (Home 5-1-2, Away 6-1-1)
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES
18-3-3 Overall (Home 8-1-2; Away 8-2-1; Neutral 1-0-0)
11-2-3 Canada West Hockey (Home 5-1-2, Away 6-1-1)
PLAYER GP G-A-PTS P-PIM
Dean Beuker 16 13-15-28 2-4
Brent Twordik 16 4-15-19 9-18
Keegan McAvoy 16 2-17-19 7-22
Trent Adamus 16 10-6-16 11-22
Curtis Austring 16 6-8-14 12-24
Matt Girling 16 6-7-13 12-24
Stephen Mann 16 5-5-10 3-6
Jeff Schmidt 16 5-4-9 8-35
Mason Wallin 12 3-5-8 6-12
Bryce Thoma 16 1-7-8 11-30
Colin Johnson 16 1-6-7 3-14
Garett Soparlo 16 3-3-6 9-26
Alekcei McAvoy 16 4-1-5 3-6
Derek Endicott 16 2-2-4 18-36
Bruce Harrison 16 1-3-4 8-16
Matt Bergen 9 0-1-1 0-0
Brett Dickie 8 0-1-1 0-0
Evan Folden 16 0-1-1 9-26
Shawn Langen 1 0-0-0 0-0
Jeff Harvey 7 0-0-0 1-2
Thomas Vicars 9 0-0-0 0-0
Scott Roy 16 0-0-0 11-30
Bench 16 - 1-2
GOALTENDER GPI MIN GA EN GAA. SO W-L-T PCT. SHA SVS PCT.
Jeff Harvey 7 423:29 11 0 1.56 2 5-1-1 .786 198 187 .944
Thomas Vicars 9 550:00 19 0 2.07 0 6-1-2 .778 267 248 .929
SASKATCHEWAN TOTALS 16 975:00 30 0 1.88 2 11-2-3 .781 465 435 .935
