Canada West weekly roundup: Huskies open CW title defence with sweep
EDMONTON - The Saskatchewan Huskies opened defence of their Canada West Men's Hockey championship on the right foot as they took both ends of their home-and-home series with the Regina Cougars.
The Huskies, who won their 14th conference title in 2006-07, opened the 2007-08 season with a 4-2 win on home ice at Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon on Friday and then earned the series sweep with a 2-1 overtime victory at Regina on Saturday.
In the other series played on the opening weekend of the 72nd Canada West Hockey season, the Calgary Dinos and Lethbridge Pronghorns skated to a series split. The two provincial rivals earned wins on home ice in the home-and-home series as the Pronghorns won 3-2 on Friday as Steve Zmudczynski scored twice, including an unassisted shorthanded goal for the game winner. Calgary replied on Saturday with their own 3-2 victory and for the second night in a row, the game winning goal came shorthanded. Aaron Richards gave the Dinos their first conference win of the season netting the deciding goal at 5:12 of the second period while penalty killing.
Both the Alberta Golden Bears and UBC Thunderbirds earned sweeps in non-conference play to round out the week's schedule. In a rematch of the 2006 CIS University Cup Final, the Golden Bears earned two road wins against the Lakehead University Thunderwolves of Ontario University Athletics (OUA) in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Alberta, who earned its record setting 12th national championship with a 3-2 win over Lakehead at Rexall Place in Edmonton in 2006, defeated the Thunderwolves 3-0 and 3-1. At Vancouver, UBC skated to 6-3 and 5-3 victories over the visiting NAIT Ooks of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC).
The Manitoba Bisons began the week's schedule with a 7-1 exhibition loss to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, September 26th. Colin Lafreniere scored the lone goal for the Bisons against the Vancouver Canucks' AHL affiliate.
Mason Wallin's powerplay goal 3:30 into overtime lifted Saskatchewan to a 2-1 victory on Saturday and secured a series sweep for the Huskies over Regina. Wallin, who earned an assist on Curtis Austring's first period goal, netted the game winner 3:30 into the five minute overtime period. Dillon Johnstone was the lone Cougar to beat Jeff Harvey in the Saskatchewan goal.
Harvey allowed only three goals on 46 shots in the Huskies' series sweep over Regina and finished the first week of the conference schedule with a .935 save percentage.
Austring scored the game-winning goal and added an assist to lead the Huskies to a 4-2 win over Regina in the series opener. First period goals by Brad Erickson and Derek Endicott lifted Saskatchewan to a 2-0 first period lead before Kyle Ross cut the Huskies lead in half with the Cougars' first goal of the game in the second period. Austring netted the eventual game-winner 2:56 into the third period and Huskies captain Brent Twordik extended the Saskatchewan lead to 4-1 at 9:21 of the final frame. Ryan Cruse rounded out the scoring, netting Regina's second goal with a powerplay goal at 19:56.
Shorthanded goals were decisive in the Calgary - Lethbridge series. Steve Zmudczynski scored his second goal of the game on Friday night while killing a penalty to give the Pronghorns a 3-2 win over the visiting Dinos before 822 fans at Nicholas Sheran Arena. Zmudczynski's shorthanded goal was an unassisted marker that gave the Pronghorns a 3-1 lead. The Lethbridge sophomore had scored earlier in the second period to break a 1-1 tie. Also scoring for the Pronghorns was team captain Shaun Noorie, who opened the scoring with a first period powerplay. Ryan Annesley and Reid Jorgensen scored for Calgary.
In the series finale in Calgary on Saturday, Aaron Richard's shorthanded goal capped off three consecutive Dinos goals and led Calgary to a 3-2 win and the series split. After Norrie opened the scoring with his second powerplay goal of the series for Lethbridge, the Dinos rallied to take the lead before the first period ended on goals by Torrie Wheat and Barry Horman (PPG). Richards would make it a 3-1 Calgary lead with his second period shorthanded goal before Andrew Switzer brought the Pronghorns to within a goal with less than seven minutes remaining in the third period. Richards added an assist to finish the game with two points and Reid Jorgensen chipped in with two helpers of his own.
At Thunder Bay, Aaron Sorochan made 20 saves to register his second career CIS shutout, and freshman Derek Ryan scored his first two goals to lead Alberta to a 3-0 victory in the series opener with Lakehead. Alberta struck quickly as Ryan netted his first career collegiate goal at 2:32 of the first period. Dylan Stanley would make it 2-0 for the Golden Bears at 5:51 before Ryan rounded out the scoring with his second goal at 15:05. Lee Zalasky earned assists on both of Ryan's goals as Alberta outshot Lakehead 47-20, including 20-8 in the opening period.
Brian Woolger, Chad Klassen (GWG) and Dale Mahovsky (ENG) each scored once and Blake Grenier made 26 saves in goal to pace the Golden Bears to a 3-1 win in the series finale on Saturday.
The line of Darrell May (0-2-2), Marc Desloges (1-2-3) and Dalton Pajak (2-1-3) combined for three goals and eight points to lead UBC to a series opening 6-3 win over NAIT on Friday. The Thunderbirds scored all six of their goals in the first period and led 5-0 before NAIT scored. Pajak scored both of his goals on the powerplay, while Jovan Matic netted the game winner. Lance Morrison and Curtis Billsten also scored single goals for UBC who outshot the Ooks two-to-one (50-25).
Saturday's finale was closer as NAIt held a 2-1 first period lead before the Thunderbirds rallied to score four of the game's final goals. Pajak added his third powerplay goal of the series, while Desloges (1-1-2), Matic (1-1-2), Mitch Bartley (1-2-3), Graham Sheppard (1-1-2) and Andrew Wasmuth (0-2-2) registered multiple-point games. Mark Nelson netted two of NAIT's three goals while Nick Stermer scored once.
A total of eight games are on the schedule for the upcoming week. Alberta, UBC and Manitoba will begin their conference schedule as the Golden Bears visit Vancouver for two games with UBC and Manitoba travels to Regina to take on the Cougars on Friday-Saturday, October 5th-6th.
Other games will see both Calgary and Manitoba play non-conference games against NCAA opposition. Following their two games series at Regina, the Bisons travel south to take on the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux on Sunday, September 7th.
The Dinos will play three games in three nights against NCAA opponents. The Calgary road trip begins in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday against the Colorado College Tigers and will also see the Dinos visit the University of Denver Pioneers on Sunday and conclude the trip against the United States Air Force Academy Falcons on Monday, October 8th.
This will be the second consecutive season that Calgary has faced-off against these three NCAA Division 1 teams. Last season the Dinos went 1-2-0, defeating Colorado College 4-2 (Oct. 1) and losing 6-3 at Denver (Sept. 30) and 4-2 against the Air Force Academy (Oct. 2).
CANADA WEST HOCKEY PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Sophomore forward DALTON PAJAK of the University of British Columbia has been named the Canada West Hockey Player of the Week for the week ending September 30, 2007.
The 6'0", 180-pound Science student from Black Creek, British Columbia scored three powerplay goals and an assist to lead the Thunderbirds to a non-conference series sweep of the NAIT Ooks on Friday-Saturday, September 28th-29th. PAJAK scored twice and added an assist to lead UBC to a 6-3 win in the series opener on Friday night and then added his third powerplay goal of the series on Saturday in the Thunderbirds 5-3 victory over the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) team.
With his four-point weekend, PAJAK now sits atop the UBC scoring list with seven points, including a team-leading five goals, in five games. His seven points places him in a three-way tie for third place in the Canada West Hockey overall scoring race and he shares the conference lead in goals with Harlan Anderson of the University of Alberta and Brad Erickson of the University of Saskatchewan.
-30-
Source:
Steve Knowles, Canada West men's hockey
