In a highly anticipated match-up between the top ranked teams in CIS hockey, the number one ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears and the second ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies split their two-game series on Friday-Saturday, January 14th-15th. A total of 5,194 fans took in the two games at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Alberta as the Golden Bears and Huskies played two highly entertaining games. The nation's number one ranked Golden Bears scored five third period goals to take the series opener 6-2 before 2,557 fans and the Huskies rallied to earn the split with a 5-2 win on Saturday in front of a crowd of 2,637.
Saskatchewan's victory on Saturday ended Alberta's home ice undefeated streak in Canada West Hockey conference play at 58 games. The Golden Bears had gone 57-0-1 (.991) on home ice since their last conference loss - a 4-2 defeat to the Huskies on January 12, 2001.
There were two other series on the conference schedule as the University of Manitoba Bisons picked up two points on Saskatchewan in the Great Plains Division standings with a road sweep over the University of Lethbridge, defeating the Pronghorns 4-1 and 8-6 and in Regina, Saskatchewan, the host University of Regina Cougars and visiting University of Calgary Dinos skated to a pair of 4-4 overtime ties.
In non-conference play, the UBC Thunderbirds earned three of four points from the visiting NAIT Ooks as they earned a 7-2 win on Friday over the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) team and then played to a 4-4 OT tie on Saturday.
Defenceman Jeff Zorn and Brad Tutschek each scored a pair of goals and added an assist to lead Alberta to the series opening 6-2 win on Friday. Down 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Quinn Sherdahl, Alberta tied the score in the second period on a shorthanded goal by Justin Wallin. The teams entered the final period of play deadlocked at 1-1 before the Golden Bears erupted for five goals, including four powerplay goals, to earn the win. Zorn scored twice with the man advantage, while Tutschek and Ben Thomson added single powerplay markers. Defenceman Dan Hulak responded for Saskatchewan, scoring a powerplay goal for his first goal of the season.
On Saturday, Saskatchewan struck early as Jon Barkman opened the scoring only 1:41 after the opening face-off. Keegan McAvoy would give the Huskies a 2-0 lead at 10:52 before Harlan Anderson put Alberta on the scoreboard with a powerplay goal at 13:20 as the Golden Bears held a two-man advantage. Second period goals by Sherdahl, his second of the series, and Bruce Harrison would extend the Huskies lead to 4-1 after 40 minutes of play. Ryan Johnston upped the lead to 5-1 with a goal only 22 seconds into the third period and Tim Krymusa rounded out the scoring with Alberta's second powerplay goal of the game at 10:13.
Jon Barkman led all Saskatchewan scorers with a goal and two assists in the victory, while Sherdhal had a goal and an assist. Dean Beuker earned three assists in the series, including two in Friday's loss, giving the Huskies forward a share of the conference scoring lead with 33 points.
Alberta defenceman Perry Johnson assisted on both of the Golden Bears goals on Saturday, giving him four assists in the series. The four-point weekend moved the blueliner into the scoring lead among conference defencemen. Johnson leads Canada West Hockey defencemen with 3-18-21 in 20 conference games and also tops the scoring list in overall play with 5-24-29 in 30 games.
At Lethbridge, third-year center Paul Deniset led the Manitoba offence with a seven-point weekend as the Bisons assistant captain scored 4-3-7 in the two wins over the Pronghorns. Deniset scored 1-1-2 in Friday's 4-1 victory and then tallied five points, including three goals for his conference leading third hat trick, in Saturday's 8-6 win. Deniset's hat trick was one of two hat tricks by the Bisons on Saturday as Kevin Saurette also netted three goals