ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN TOP DIVISION STANDINGS
RELEASE #2006-07-12 MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2006
ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN TOP DIVISION STANDINGS AS CANADA WEST HOCKEY CONCLUDES SEASON’S FIRST HALF
Both the second ranked Alberta Golden Bears and Saskatchewan Huskies completed the first half of the Canada West Hockey season with series sweeps on Friday-Sunday, December 1st-3rd – the final weekend of conference play prior to the Christmas break.
The second ranked Golden Bears took both ends of their home-and-home series against the eighth ranked Calgary Dinos, winning 2-1 in Calgary on Friday and concluded the sweep with a 5-3 win at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton on Saturday. With its fifth series sweep of the season, Alberta improved its conference record to 12-2-2 and increased their lead over second place Calgary to six points in the Mountain Division standings.
In Saskatoon, the sixth ranked Huskies extended their winning streak to four games with 7-2 and 4-0 wins over the visiting Manitoba Bisons. Assistant captain Keegan McAvoy was involved in six of the Huskies’ seven goals in the series opener on Friday, scoring twice, including the game winning goal, and adding four assists. The fifth-year forward added a third goal on Saturday as Saskatchewan completed the sweep with a 4-0. Sophomore goaltender Jeff Harvey made 23 saves to register his second shutout of the season.
The third and final series of the weekend saw the UBC Thunderbirds and Lethbridge Pronghorns split their series in Vancouver. Andrew Courtney scored twice and Brandon Highton made 34 saves to lead the Pronghorns to a 6-2 win in the series opener, before the Thunderbirds rallied for the series split with a 6-3 win on Sunday afternoon. Both games were played at General Motors Place.
Following the weekend, Alberta and Saskatchewan stand atop their respective divisions heading into the Christmas break. The Golden Bears hold top spot in the Mountain Division, six points ahead of Calgary, while Saskatchewan also has a six point lead over both Manitoba and the Regina Cougars, who had the bye in the conference schedule this past weekend, in the Great Plains Division.
The opening game of the “Battle of Alberta” was a goaltending duo between Aaron Sorochan of Alberta and Calgary’s Scott Talbot. The two nemtnders combined to make 64 saves in the Golden Bears 2-1 victory. Sorochan, who was the 2005-06 CIS Freshman of the Year, stopped 34 of 35 shots in backstopping Alberta to the series opening victory, while Talbot allowed only two goals on 32 shots.
Lee Zalasky opened the scoring for Alberta at 17:19 of the first period before Calgary defenceman Travis Friedley tied the score with a powerplay goal only 19 seconds into the third period. The teams remained tied until 14:16, when Ben Kilgour tipped Derek Price’s point shot past Talbot for the victory.
In the series finale in Edmonton on Saturday, freshmen forwards Dale Mahovsky and Brian Woolger scored goals five minutes apart in the third period to break a 3-3 tie and lead Alberta to a 5-3 win before a crowd of 1,253. Dylan Stanley scored twice and Ian McDonald had a single goal to give the Golden Bears a 3-1 first period lead, but the Dinos rallied to tie the score in the second. Tyrel Lucas scored a powerplay goal in the first for Calgary, before Aaron Richards and Paul Gentile scored in the middle frame. Wade Davis had assists on all three goals for the Dinos.
With the game appearing to be headed to overtime, Mahovsky broke the tie with Alberta’s fourth goal at 10:57 of the third period. The first-year forward wrested a bullet high to the top corner past Talbot to give Alberta a 4-3 lead. The Golden Bears sealed their conference leading 12th win, as Woolger beat Talbot five hole on a breakaway at 15:48.
Both Mahovsky and Woolger registered three-point games with a goal and two assists, while freshman defenceman Kyle Fecho added three assists for the Golden Bears.
McAvoy was the offensive catalyst for Saskatchewan with his six-point outing on Friday night in Saskatoon. The six points are the most scored by a player in one game this season and it is the first six-point game in Canada West Hockey conference play since Manitoba’s Kevin Saurette scored 2-4-6 in a 7-2 win versus UBC on October 7, 2005. The last Huskie to have six points in a conference game was Dean Beuker, who scored 2-4-6 on November 29, 2002 in a 10-1 win versus UBC.
Joining McAvoy in the offensive onslaught that saw the Huskies take 3-1 and 7-1 leads over the visiting Bisons, were freshman defenceman Mark Hinz with 2-2-4, Mason Wallin (1-2-3) and Colin Patterson (1-1-2). Aaron Starr and Ricahrd Wood accounted for the Bisons scoring with a powerplay and shorthanded goal, respectively.
Huskies’ captain Brent Twordik was the star offensively for Saskatchewan in Saturday’s series finale as he scored the game winning goal on the powerplay and added assists on goals by Derek Endicott and Brad Erickson. McAvoy added his third goal and seventh point of the series to round out the scoring for the Huskies, who scored all four of their goals in the second period.
Jeff Harvey made 23 saves to register his second shutout of the season and lower his goals-against average to 2.70 in conference play. Harvey, who also shutout UBC on November 10th, now has five career shutouts for Saskatchewan, with two of the five coming against Manitoba.
Freshman forward Mark Shefchyk continued his outstanding season for the Lethbridge Pronghorns as the first-year forward tallied four points in the series versus UBC. Shefchyk scored once and added two assists, including one on Garry Luini’s game winner, to pace the Pronghorns to a series opening 6-2 win on Friday night at General Motors Place in Vancouver. The four points moves Shefchyk into sole possession of the Canada West Hockey scoring lead with 28 points in 14 conference games. His 11 goals and 17 assists gives him a two-point lead over Alberta’s Ben Kilgour and Calgary’s Ryan Annesley, who each have 26 points. Kilgour has 12-14-16 and is tied with Regina’s Jason Weitzel for the conference goal scoring lead, while Annesley has netted 11-15-26.
A total of six players have reached the 20 point plateau at the Christmas break. Joining the top three with 20-or-more points are Alberta’s Dylan Stanley (9-16-25), Jarret Lukin of Calgary (11-11-22) and Mason Wallin of Sakatchewan with 11-10-21.
Andrew Courtney had two goals in the Pronghorns’ victory, including one of two third period shorthanded goals. Luini added an assist to his powerplay goal for his first points of the season and Jason Roberts had two assists. Justin Cruse and team captain Jay Langager, who had Lethbridge’s second shorthanded goal, had single goals for the Pronghorns. Mike Gough and Lance Morrison, with his first of the season, scored goals for the Thunderbirds.
Six players scored single goals for UBC on Sunday afternoon as the Thunderbirds halted a three-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory. Ashley Todd, Matt Schneider and Brad Zanon gave UBC a 3-0 lead before Logan Lavorato put Lethbridge on the scoreboard midway through the second period. Morrison, with his second goal of the series, Stephane Gervais and Kevin Seibel also scored for the Thunderbirds, while Shaun Norrie and Lucio Pucci-Daniele tallied for Lethbridge.
Morrison, Todd and Zanon added assists to finish the win with two point games and Darrell May registered his team-leading fifth multiple point game with two assists. Gerry Festa made 32 saves to record the win in goal for UBC.
Canada West Hockey now breaks for final exams and the Christmas holidays before returning to play on December 27th when Calgayr opens defence of its title at the 5th Annual TBAY Tel Varsity Cup tournament hosted by Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The four team tournament runs from December 27th to 30th and features the Dinos, the Toronto Varsity Blues, Wilfird Laurier Golden Hawks and the host Lakehead Thunderwolves.
Calgary will be one of four conference teams to see action over the Christmas holidays as Manitoba will travel to the Maritimes to skate at the University of New Brunswick’s Pete Kelly Classic. The Bisons will play a non-conference game against the host Varsity Reds on December 29th before facing off against the St. Thomas Tommies in one of two semi-finals on December 30th. The tournament will conclude on New Year’s Eve day with the consolation and championship finals.
Alberta and Saskatchewan will also play on New Year’s Eve as the conference’s division leaders will face-off against each other in an afternoon charity game at Lloydminster, Alberta.
The conference schedule resumes on the weekend of Friday-Saturday, January 5th-6th with three series on tap. The first week of the season’s second half will see Alberta travel to Lethbridge, Calgary host UBC and Saskatchewan and Regina play a home-and-home series. Manitoba will also be in action as the Bisons host the NAIT Ooks of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) in a non-conference series.
CANADA WEST HOCKEY PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Fifth-year senior forward KEEGAN McAVOY of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies has been named the Canada West Hockey Player of the Week for the week ending December 3, 2006. The 6’0”, 205-pound Arts & Science student from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan scored seven points to lead the sixth ranked Huskies to a sweep of the visiting University of Manitoba Bisons on Friday-Saturday, December 1st-2nd at Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon. Six of McAVOY’s seven points came in the series opener on Friday night as the Saskatchewan assistant captain scored twice, including the game winner, and added four assists in the Huskies’ 7-2 win. Five of the six points came on the powerplay as the 25-year-old forward tallied once and had four assists with Saskatchewan enjoying the man advantage. McAVOY concluded the weekend with one goal on Saturday as Saskatchewan completed the series sweep with a 4-0 victory. The seven-point series moves McAVOY into seventh place in the Canada West Hockey scoring race with 7-12-19 in 14 conference games and he has scored 8-15-23 in 17 games overall.
