Saturday, January 28, 2006

Bears close in on hockey Dogs

SP Staff

Bears 3, Huskies 1

Home ice proved to be the advantage for the University of Alberta Golden Bears in a 3-1 victory Friday over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in a men’s hockey game at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.

Saskatchewan slips to 15-5-3 in Canada West conference play. Alberta is 15-4-2 and one point back of the Huskies for first place overall. The teams meet again tonight in Edmonton.

Curtis Austring scored the lone goal for Saskatchewan, which held a slim 25-24 advantage in shots. Ben Thomson, Dylan Stanley and Joff Koehler tallied for Alberta, which scored three unanswered goals, two in the third, for the win. By all accounts, the Bears got some lucky bounces on the way to their first win over the Dogs in four tries this season.

The Huskies controlled the game until the end of the second period when the Bears gained momentum on a power-play goal by Thomson. “We were a little tentative for the first 30 minutes and were able to rely on Benny Thomson to maybe energize us,” Alberta assistant coach Serge Lajoie told CJSR radio play-by-play man Bob Stauffer.

“I was impressed with the way they (Huskies) played on the road and I can’t say enough about (Alberta goalie) Aaron Sorochan.” Sorochan made a clutch save in the third period on a 4-on-2 break by the Huskies while the game was knotted at 1-1.

The Huskies opened the scoring at 7:40 of the second frame on a goal by Austring. The Bears answered late in the period on a goal by Thomson. Stanley scored at 7:29 of the third on a bank shot to make it 2-1. Koehler added to the lead at 13:15 after Saskatchewan goalie Jeff Harvey fanned on a clearing attempt.

The Bears took a number of penalties in the final minute to give the Huskies a two-man advantage — and three-man advantage with the goalie pulled — but the Dogs could not find the back of the net.

“Trouble in tight situations cost the Huskies again tonight,” said U of S coach Dave Adolph. Sorochan had 24 saves for the win. Harvey stopped 21 shots for Saskatchewan. Adolph, who was handed a one-game suspension after getting a game misconduct at the conclusion of a rough series against the British Columbia Thunderbirds last weekend, was not behind the bench for Saskatchewan. UBC coach Milan Dragicevic also received a one-game suspension as a result of that game.