For the first time in Canada West Hockey history, the visiting teams have swept the opening round of the Canada West Hockey playoffs as the UBC Thunderbirds and Calgary Dinos won the conferences best-of-three Division Semi-Finals on Friday-Sunday, February 23rd-25th.
Both series went the distance as UBC and Calgary took three games to earn the series victories. Calgary advanced to the second round of the post-season for the 14th consecutive season with a two-games to one victory over the Regina Cougars in the Great Plains Division semi-final. In the Mountain Division semi-final, UBC earned its first playoff series victory in 36 seasons as the Thunderbirds defeated the Lethbridge Pronghorns.
In Regina, Calgary opened its series against the Cougars with a 4-2 loss and then rallied to win the next two games at the Sherwood Twin Arenas. Scott Talbot turned aside 25 shots in Game 2 to backstop the Dinos to a 2-0 victory and the third-year goaltender then made another 32 saves as Calgary claimed the series with a 2-1 win in Game 3 on Sunday afternoon.
Looking for their first playoff victory since the 1970-71 season, UBC traveled to Lethbridge to take on the Pronghorns, who were returning to the conference playoffs for the first time since 2002-03. The Thunderbirds struck first, winning the opening game of the series 6-5 before the Pronghorns, who went 8-1-1 in the final 10 games of the Canada West Hockey regular season schedule, evened the series with a 4-3 win on Saturday. UBC ended a streak of nine consecutive playoff series loses on Sunday, taking the deciding game 5-3.
With their victories, Calgary and UBC advance to the Canada West Hockey division finals, which will be hosted by the Alberta Golden Bears and Saskatchewan Huskies. The best-of-three series will be played on Friday-Sunday, March 9th-11th.
CALGARY VERSUS REGINA
The Dinos entered the post-season looking to end a streak that had seen them lose their final nine (0-7-2) regular season games dating back to a 6-3 win at Regina on January 20th. After taking a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Andre Blanchette (PPG) and Travis Friedly, the Dinos saw their losing ways continue as the homestanding Cougars, looking to win their first playoff series since a two game sweep of the Manitoba Bisons in the 2003-04 division semi-finals, rallied to score three times in the second period to erase the Calgary lead. The Regina comeback was led by James Ardelans two powerplay goals sandwiched around Jesse Matlock even strength goal. Jason Weitzel sealed the victory with his conference leading 23rd goal with the Cougars third powerplay goal of the night at 8:23 of the final frame. Regina defencemen Clay Thoring and Brennan Chapman chipped in with two assists each as Regina outshot Calgary 28-17.
Needing a win to stave off elimination, Calgary rallied in Game 2. Led by the goaltending of Scott Talbot the Dinos tied the series at 1-1, skating to a 2-1 victory on Saturday. Talbot earned his first shutout of the season with 25 a save performance and Brett OMalley and Friedley, with his second goal of the series, scored single goals. Not only did Talbot stem the tide with his shutout, but he also earned an assist on OMalley game-winning goal.
For the third consecutive game, Calgary opened the scoring as Conlan Seder gave the Dinos a 1-0 lead 7:20 into the first period of Game 3. Regina, which outshot Calgary 16-4 in the second period and 33-18 on the game, tied the score when Weitzel netted his second powerplay goal only 31 seconds into the middle stanza. The tie was shortlived as Colin McRae would score the series winning goal at 2:40. The goal was McRaes second point of the game as he earned an assist on Seders first period goal.
The series victory marked the 10th consecutive victory for Calgary in the opening round of the post-season. The last time the Dinos were eliminated in the firs round of the Canada West Hockey playoffs came