Home ice advantage went out the window in Canada West Hockey play on the weekend as visiting teams won five of six games in conference play on Friday-Saturday, January 19th-20th. The third ranked Saskatchewan Huskies earned two of the five wins by road teams, registering 4-2 and 3-2 wins over the 10th ranked Calgary Dinos at Max Bell Arena in Calgary for their fifth sweep of the season.
The UBC Thunderbirds earned the second sweep of the weekend and their first sweep of the season, by defeating the Manitoba Bisons 2-0 and 4-1 in Winnipeg. The third series resulted in a split with the homestanding Lethbridge Pronghorns and Regina Cougars trading 3-2 victories.
In Calgary, Trent Adamus had a four-point weekend to lead Saskatchewan to its sweep of Calgary. The third-year forward scored a goal and three assists in the series with two assists on Friday and a goal and an assist on Saturday. Adamus first assist in the series opener came on the game-winning goal by Jason Wagar at 8:54 of the third period. He added his second assist 1:37 later as Matt Girling rounded out the scoring at 10:31. Wagars game-winner was his second goal of the night as he netted a shorthanded goal in the second period to break a 1-1 tie.
Keegan McAovy had a powerplay goal for the Huskies, while Colin McRae and Ryan Annesley scored for the Dinos, who outshot Saskatchewan 21-14. Annesley and Tyrel Lucas were involved in both Dinos goals. Annesley had an assist on McRaes goal to finish with a goal and two assists and Lucas had two assist. Russel Monette made 19 saves to earn his second win of the season for the Huskies.
In the series finale, Brad Erickson Ericksons third goal of the season broke a 2-2 tie and led the Huskies to a 3-2 win. The teams traded goals through the first 40 minutes of play with Adamus opening the scoring only 58 seconds into the game. Paul Gentile tied the score for Calgary midway through the second period before Derek Endicott gave Saskatchewan its second lead of the game at 12:45. Trevor Galan sent the game into the third period tied at 2-2 with a powerplay goal at 18:27.
The two wins helped Huskies head coach Dave Adloph reach a career milestone. Adolph, now in his 18th season in the CIS coaching ranks, registered his 244th and 245th career Canada West Hockey victories with the sweep of Calgary and he now sits second on the conferences all-time wins list. Adolph has a career conference coaching record of 245-209-46 and is tied with former Calgary head coach George Kingston. Kingston compiled a 245-128-0 record in 16 seasons with Calgary between 1968-69 and 1987-88.
CANADA WEST HOCKEY CAREER COACHING WINS
(Conference Wins As of February 2, 2007)
COACHTEAMGCWLTPCT.
1. Clare DrakeAlberta5253771453.721
2. George KingstonCalgary3732451280.657
Dave AdolphLethbridge11232728.321
Saskatchewan38821313738.598
TOTALS50024520946.536
With the two wins at Calgary, Adolph reached a second milestone, becoming only the second coach in Canada West Hockey history to coach 500-or-more games. Adolph, who is in his 14th season with the Huskies since taking over the coaching duties at his alma mater in 1993-94, has been behind the bench as a head coach 500 times in conference play and trails only Albertas Clare Drake. Drake coached 525 conference games for the Golden Bears in 28 seasons. Adolph is the conferences active leader in games coached, wins, losses and ties.
At Winnipeg, the UBC Thunderbirds played sound defensive hockey to earn their sweep of Manitoba, allowing the Bisons only a single goal in the two-games. Freshman Francois Thuot made 31 saves for his first career CIS shutout in Fridays 2-0 victory. Thuot made 23 saves through the first 40 minutes of play when Manitoba outshot the Thunderbirds 23-14. UBC scored early in the game with Brad Zanon giving the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead only 49 seconds after the openin