Golden Bears have new look, same style

Bears 4, Huskies 3
The last time we saw the University of Alberta Golden Bears, they were doing victory laps after capturing the 2008 University Cup national hockey championship in Moncton, N.B.

Outplayed by the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds in the final, the Golden Bears stole a victory thanks largely to the goaltending of Aaron Sorochan.

Now, six months later. they’re back on the ice minus six players — Harlan Anderson, Dylan Stanley, Tim Krymusa, Ryan Stempfle, Richard Hamula and Mark Ashton.

Alberta renewed its fierce rivalry with the host University of Saskatchewan Huskies at the Huskie Hockey Alumni Classic tournament Friday night at Rutherford Rink. The Huskies spotted the Bears a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes before Alberta eventually hung on for a 4-3 win.

Jesse Gimblett, Ben Kilgour and Dale Mahovsky, during a two-man advantage, scored for Alberta in the first five minutes. Lee Zalasky, on the power play, had the other goal for Alberta.

Steve Da Silva, with a power-play marker, Bryan Kauk and Casey Lee replied for Saskatchewan.

“We lost some key guys,” said Bears coach Eric Thurston. “Losing our captain Harlan Anderson, who really helped our power play being our leader, and Ryan Stempfle, plus Dylan Stanley, (whose departure was) unexpected and a little late in the year, which didn’t give me a chance to get another second-line centre in. Dylan put up some pretty good numbers and was good on the power play.
“We’ve got some new guys who’ll obviously have to step in and fill some key roles.”

Kyle Pess, Dale Mahovsky and Shaden Moore had limited ice time with the Golden Bears last season, but they’re expected to log more this time around.

Newcomers include G Real Cyr, D Ryan White, F Greg Gardner, D/F J.P. Szaskiewicz and F Dan Baum, a former pro player who’ll be eligible to play in November.

Take away the first five minutes Friday and it’s a whole new ball game.

“We got skilled a little bit in the first period,” said U of S coach Dave Adolph. “We have an awful lot of guys trying to get used to the pace and there’s no better pace to play than Alberta’s. We got better as we went. You get yourself down 4-1 against a good team like that, it’s tough. But I’ll take the last 30 minutes.

“We’re spending an awful lot of time reinstituting some of things that are important in this league. We’re going to punctuate the good things here and continue to get better.”

In the afternoon game, the Regina Cougars scored four times in the third period on their way to a 5-2 victory over the Manitoba Bisons. Kyle Ross and Dustin Bru each tallied twice for the Cougars. Ross Bender added a single. Myles Rumsey and Dave Brown replied for the Bisons.

The tournament wraps up today. Alberta takes on Regina at 3 p.m. and Manitoba plays Saskatchewan at 7:30 p.m. Both games are at Rutherford.