Canada West Hockey Release December 5, 2005
RELEASE #2005-06-13 MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2005
SASKATCHEWAN TOPS CONFERENCE AT CHRISTMAS BREAK
MANITOBA TOPS .500 MARK WITH SWEEP OF REGINA
The first half of the Canada West Hockey season came to a close on the weekend with three series being played on Friday-Saturday, December 2nd-3rd.
The University of Manitoba Bisons regained their winning form with two road victories over the University of Regina Cougars, while the University of Alberta Golden Bears earned three of four points from the visiting University of Lethbridge Pronghorns at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton. The third series saw the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and University of Calgary Dinos split their series in Vancouver, with the visiting Dinos taking the series opener 5-4 and the hometown Thunderbirds earning the series split with a 4-2 victory.
At the break the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, who had the bye on the weekend, remain atop the Canada West hockey standings with a record of 11-2-3 and are 18-3-3 overall. The number one ranked Huskies hold a six point lead over Manitoba in the Great Plains Division and a five point lead over Alberta in the conference’s combined standings.
Manitoba’s two wins at Regina lifted the Bisons over the .500 mark at 9-8-1 and moves them seven points ahead of the Cougars in the race for second place in the Great Plains Division. The Bisons finished the season’s first half by winning seven of its last nine games as they went 7-2-0 from November 5th to December 33rd after starting the conference schedule with a 2-6-1 record.
In the Mountain Division, Alberta holds a four point lead over second place Calgary as the Golden Bears have 20 points from a 9-3-2 record and the Dinos are 7-7-2 for 16 points. Alberta has two games in hand on the Dinos and the two teams meet in Calgary on January 6th and 7th to start the schedule’s second half. British Columbia is in third place behind both Alberta and Calgary with 11 points, while Lethbridge is fourth with nine points.
After having their five-game winning streak (5-0-0; Nov. 5-19) come to an end with two losses to first place Saskatchewan two weeks ago, the Manitoba Bisons returned to the win column with a series sweep of Regina. Krister Toews turned aside 27 shots to earn his second shutout of the season in the Bisons 2-0 series opening win. Toews, who has played in all 18 of the Bisons conference games this season, lowered his goals-against average to 2.73 and is now fourth among Canada West Hockey goaltenders and leads the conference with nine victories.
Aaron Starr scored the game winning goal with a first period tally and Warren McCutcheon, who shares the Bisons scoring lead with Kevin Saurette, added the Bisons’s second goal in the third period. McCutcheon and Saurette, who earned an assist on Starr’s game winner, lead the Bisons with 6-13-19.
Saturday saw Paul Deniset open the scoring for Manitoba with a powerplay goal only 34 seconds into the game. The Bisons held their one-goal lead through the remainder of the opening period and a scoreless second stanza before defenceman Clay Thoring tied the game at 9:01 of the third. Goals by Tim Velemirovich and Saurette 23 seconds apart broke the tie and put Manitoba ahead 3-1. Velemirovich broke the tie at 16:30 and Saurette netted the deciding goal at 16:53. The Cougars would close the gap on Caine Pearpoint’s goal with 37 seconds remaining, but the Bisons held the fort to claim the series sweep with a one-goal victory.
In Edmonton, the Lethbridge Pronghorns scored goals 25 seconds apart in the third period to take a 2-1 lead over Alberta on Friday night, before Tim Krymusa tied the game at 15:35 with his third goal in as many games since returning to the lineup after missing nine games with a fractured finger. The Golden Bears opened the scoring on Richard Kelly’s third of the season in the second period and held the lead until the third period when Shaun Norrie and Jason Roberts scored at 5:28 and 5:53, respectively.
It appeared that Lethbridge would earn two more points from Alberta as the Pronghorns jumped into a 3-0 first period lead on Saturday. Charlie Mattersdorfer opened the scoring with his team leading eighth goal at 4:11 and Roberts made it 2-0 at 4:56 with his second goal of the series. The Pronghorns went up 3-0 on Dan Kitching’s first goal of the season at 13:57 before jeff Feniak cut into the Pronghorns lead at 18:06.
Justin Wallin and Ben Thomson netted second period powerplay goals to tie the score. Wallin’s goal, his 100th career point as a Golden Bear, ignited an Alberta outburst that saw the Golden Bears score five straight goals to take a 6-3 lead. Krymusa, with his second of the series and fourth in the last four games, Tyler Metcalfe with his first career goal and Joff Kehler rounded out the Golden Bears scoring while Grant Ranslam’s unassisted goal at 18:13 brought the Pronghorns to within two before time expired.
Goaltender Brendon Highton, who earned Canada West Hockey Player of the Week honors with a 45 save performance in his conference debut a week ago, continued his stellar play in the series opener. The Lethbridge freshman earned first star honors with a 36 save performance in the 2-2 tie on Friday as the Pronghorns were outshot 38-17. Despite suffering the loss on Saturday, Highton is 1-1-1 in three conference games with a 3.19 GAA and a .922 save percentage.
At Vancouver, Calgary assistant captain Ryan Annesley continued his hot hand with a five-point weekend. The third-year forward, who has scored 7-8-15 over his last six games, registered back-to-back multiple point games. In Friday’s Calgary win, Annesley scored the game winning goal at 17:50 of the third period to break a 4-4 tie and he also added two assists to pace the Dinos to the 5-4 win. Calgary built a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Jarret Lukin and Wes Reid before UBC stormed back with three goals in the first 8:42 of the second period. Stephane Gervais and Jon Kress tied the score with goals at 1:59 and 4:36, respectively, before Kyle Bruce gave the Thunderbirds a 3-2 lead with s penalty shot goal at 8:42.
Calgary would regain the lead before the period ended as Colin McRae and Travis Friedley scored goals in the final two minutes of the period. Darrell May’s evened the score in the third period with UBC’s second powerplay goal at 15:29 before Annesley netted the winner at 17:50.
Both McRae and Friedley each tallied a goal and an assist while teammates Paul Gentile and Andre Blanchette had two assists for Calgary. May and Bruce led the Thunderbird attack with a goal and an assist.
It was UBC’s turn to take the lead on Saturday as the Thunderbirds scored three times in the opening period. Peter Hay (PPG), Ashley Todd and Tyler Dietrich (SHG) were the UBC marksmen in the first. Calgary mounted a counterattack with goals by McRae (PPG) and Annesley (SHG) in the second and third periods, respectively, but that was as close as the Dinos would come as Bruce sealed the UBC victory with a powerplay goal at 13:57. Annesley added an assist on McRae’s second period powerplay goal to finish the game with a goal and an assist and the series with 2-3-5.
Saturday’s victory ended a six-game UBC losing streak that had seen the Thunderbirds go 0-6-0 from November 5th to December 2nd.
CANADA WEST HOCKEY PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Junior forward RYAN ANNESLEY of the University of Calgary Dinos has been named the Canada West Hockey Player of the Week for the week ending December 4, 2005. The 6'2", 199-pound Social Sciences student from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan scored five points in Calgary’s series split against the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday-Saturday, December 2nd-3rd. The Calgary assistant captain scored a goal and two assists in the Dinos 5-4 victory in the series opener on Friday, netting the game winning goal with only two minutes and ten seconds remaining in regulation to break a 4-4 tie. ANNESLEY added his second multiple point game of the series on Saturday, scoring a shorthanded goal and adding a powerplay assist in Calgary’s 4-2 loss. The back-to-back multiple point games gives ANNESLEY a six-game scoring streak that has seen him score 7-8-15 from November 18th to December 3rd. He has registered back-to-back multiple point games in the last five games of the streak and has now scored 7-15-22 in 16 Canada West Hockey games to move into second place in the conference scoring race. Overall, ANNESLEY has scored 7-17-24 in 19 games.
