Canada West RELEASE #2005-06-17
ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN SOLIDIFY HOLD ON FIRST PLACE WITH SWEEPS
RACE FOR SECOND PLACE TIGHTENS
SASKATCHEWAN SCORES FIVE SHORTHANDED GOALS TO SPARK COME BACK WIN ON FRIDAY
With home ice sweeps the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and the University of Alberta Golden Bears have solidified their holds on first place in the Canada West Hockey division standings.
Both Saskatchewan and Alberta moved 12 points ahead of their closest opponent in the Great Plains and Mountain Division standings, respectively, as the Huskies defeated the University of Calgary Dinos 6-4 and 5-0 and the Golden Bears swept the University of Manitoba Bisons 4-2 and 12-5 on Friday-Saturday, January 13th and 14th.
The University of Regina also registered two victories on the weekend as the Cougars skated past the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 5-2 and 6-4 at the Sherwood Twin Arenas in Regina.
The two victories give Saskatchewan a conference-leading 14-3-3 record and move the Huskies 12 points in front of second place Manitoba. The Huskies need only six more points to clinch first in the Great Plains Division for the fifth consecutive season and for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons.
In the Mountain Division, Alberta has a 12-point lead over second place Calgary. The Golden Bears, who have an eleven-game undefeated streak, need seven more points to secure first place in the division.
Although the race for first place in both divisions is nearing a conclusion, the fight for the final two playoff positions in each division is tightening as only a single point separates second and third place. Manitoba, with a 9-10-1 record, is one point in front of third place Regina in the Great Plains Divison, with the Cougars making a run at the Bisons.
Calgary and the UBC Thunderbirds are dueling for second and third place in the Mountain Division with the Dinos holding the lead by a single point. The third place Thunderbirds, which had a bye last week, have two games in hand on the Dinos heading into the final five weeks of the regular season schedule.
Canada West Hockey history was made in Saskatoon on Friday night as Saskatchewan scored five shorthanded goals in a 6-4 come-from-behind victory over Calgary. Down 4-0 65 seconds into the second period at Rutherford Arena, the Huskies began their comeback with two second period goals to make it 4-2 after 40 minutes of play.
Fourth-year senior Dean Beuker began the comeback with a powerplay goal and Brent Twordik netted the Huskies first shorthanded goal at 16:50 of the second. In the third period the Huskies struck four more times while shorthanded, including three times in a span of only 35 seconds to complete the comeback.
At 4:02 of the third period, Saskatchewan found itself shorthanded as Huskies’ defenceman Stephen Mann was in the penalty box with a interference minor. Thirty-seven seconds into the penalty, Twordik scored his second shorthanded goal to bring the Huskies to within a goal of Calgary and then Beuker struck. The conference’s leading scorer tied the score at 5:02 and then gave the Huskies their first lead of the game with the game winning goal at 5:14. Trent Adamus sealed the win with Saskathcewan’s fifth shorthanded goal of the night at 8:45.
Saskatchewan’s five shorthanded goals established a new conference record for most shorthanded goals in a game and the four shorthanded goals the Huskes tallied in the third period set a new record for the most shorthanded goals in one period.
As well, Beuker’s two shorthanded goals in 12 seconds set a new mark for fastest two shorthanded goals. The previous record for the fastest two shorthanded goals was 27 seconds, set by Steve O’Rourke of the Lethbridge Pronghorns. O’Rourke scored his two shorthanded goals at 6:06 and 6:33 of the second period in the Pronghorns 9-3 win over the Brandon Unviersity Bobcats on November 8, 1996.
Beuker concluded the series with a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 5-0 win. The goal was the game winning goal, giving him both deciding goals in the series and a conference leading six game winners this season. While Beuker, along with Matt Girling and Derek Endicott, provided the offence with a goal and an assist, Thomas Vicars supplied the defence. Vicars made 30 saves to register his first shutout of the season and the Huskies fourth.
Alberta extended its conference-undefeated streak to 11 games (9-0-2; Nov. 6-Jan. 14) with the two wins over Manitoba. Fifth-year senior Brad Tutschek led the way for the Golden Bears with a seven-point series, scoring four times and adding three assists. The Alberta assistant captain earned two assists in Friday’s 4-2 win, including one on Chris Ovington’s game winning goal, and then had a five-point game in Saturday’s 12-5 victory. Four of Tutschek’s five points on Saturday were goals, including three on the powerplay. Tutschek netted three of the Golden Bears’ four powerplay goals in the victory.
Alberta and Manitoba combined for a total of nine powerplay goals on Saturday, with the Golden Bears connecting on four of their seven powerplays and the Bisons converting on five of their 10 man power advantages.
Besides Tutschek’s five point game, there were four other players who scored four-or-more points in the game. Joining Tutschek with five points was Golden Bears defenceman Perry Johnson, who had a five-assist game. Freshman forward Dylan Stanley tallied 2-2-4 and Tim Krymusa had four assists for Alberta.
Warren McCutcheon paced the Manitoba offence with four assists, while Paul Deniset scored three of the five Bisons powerplay goals and Rob Smith added two more from the blueline.
The 12 goal game was the first 10-or-more-goal game registered in Canada West Hockey conference play this season, but it was the second time this season that Manitoba has been involved in a 10-goal game. The Bisons skated to an 11-3 win over the Dalhousie Tigers at the Pete Kelly Cup tournament in Fredericton, New Brunswick on December 29th.
In Regina, the Cougars extended their winning streak to three games with back-to-back victories over the visiting Lethbridge Pronghorns. With the wins, the Cougars moved to within a point of second place Manitoba in the Great Plains Division standings.
Five different Cougars – Jason Weitzel, Chris Stubel, Caine Pearpoint, Ryan Martin and Shayne Emmons – scored single goals in the victory while Josh Garbutt and James Ardelan each had two assists.
Ardelan played a pivotal role in Regina’s 6-4 win on Saturday as he scored twice and added an assist. With the Cougars trailing by a score of 4-3 entering the third period, Ardelan earned an assist on Graham Hayes tying goal 2:50 into the final frame. He then scored the game winning goal at 9:32 on the powerplay and his second powerplay goal of the period at 14:37 sealed the win. Weitzel scored 1-2-3 to match Ardelan’s three-point game. They were joined by Hayes and Patrick Baum’s 1-1-2 and Brendon Vanthuyne and Josh Garbutt each had two assists.
Chad Rideout and Logan Lavorato each scored a goal and an assist for the Pronghorns and Jasyon LaBossiere had two assists. LaBossiere also scored once in Lethbridge’s loss on Friday.
Each of the three Great Plains teams will host series this weekend as conference-leading Saskatchewan hosts UBC, Lethbridge visits Manitoba and Alberta is at Regina on Friday-Saturday, January 20th-21st.
CANADA WEST HOCKEY PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Fourth-year senior forward DEAN BEUKER of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies has been named the Canada West Hockey Player of the Week for the week ending January 15, 2006. The 6'0", 190-pound Arts & Science student from Watson, Saskatchewan scored six points in leading the Huskies to a two-game sweep of the University of Calgary Dinos at Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon on Friday-Saturday, January 13th and 14th. BEUKER scored three times, including two shorthanded goals in 12 seconds, and added a shorthanded assist to lead the Huskies to a come from behind 6-4 win in the series opener on Friday night. He then added a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 5-0 victory as the Huskies earned their fourth series sweep of the season. The Saskatchewan forward scored the game-winning goal in both games and now has a conference leading six game winners. With the six point series, BEUKER leads the Canada West Hockey scoring race with 18-19-37 in 20 games and holds a 14 point lead over teammate Brent Twordik and Manitoba’s Warren Mcutcheon, who hold down second place with 24 points. He also leads the conference in both goals and assists. Overall, BEUKER has scored a conference-leading 23-27-50 in 28 games.
