The final weekend of the Canada West Hockey conference schedule featured one of the season's most crucial match-ups as the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and the University of Manitoba Bisons met at Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon with first place in the Great Plains Division on the line.
When the season's final buzzer sounded it was the Saskatchewan Huskies finishing atop the standings as they swept both ends of the series with 7-1 and 6-3 victories. With the wins, Dave Adolph's Huskies ended the season six points in front of Manitoba, earning a bye in the first round of the Canada West Hockey playoffs, which begin this week.
In the other two series played on Friday-Saturday, February 18th and 19th, the University of Alberta Golden Bears finished their season with a two-game road sweep, defeating the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 6-3 and 7-1, and in a preview of the first round of the post-season, the University of Calgary Dinos earned three of four points from the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. The series opened with a 3-3 OT tie on Friday before the Dinos skated to a 3-1 win in the season finale on Saturday.
Alberta and Saskatchewan finished first in the Mountain and Great Plains Divisions, respectively, and have earned a bye in the opening round of the playoffs. Alberta's 24-3-1 record gives the Golden Bears first place in the combined standings and home ice advantage thoughout their playoff run.
POST-SEASON BEGINS THIS WEEK: The Canada West Hockey Playoffs begin this weekend with the division semi-finals on Friday-Sunday, February 25th-27th. The best of three series will see the Manitoba Bisons host the Regina Cougars in the best-of-three Great Plains Division semi-final and the Mountain Division semi-final will see the Calgary Dinos host the UBC Thunderbirds. It marks the second consecutive season that the opening round of the playoffs will feature these match-ups.
Both Manitoba and Calgary hold the advantage heading into this week's series as the Bisons and Dinos each won their seasonal series versus their post-season opponents. Manitoba was undefeated against the Cougars with a 4-0-2 record and the Bisons outscored Regina 22-11. At Max Bell Arena in Winnipeg, the Bisons were 3-0-1 and twice shutout the Cougars - 4-0 on November 27th and 2-0 on February 5th.
The Dinos earned points in all six games against UBC, posting a 3-0-3 record and outscoring the Thunderbirds 26-13. At home, Calgary was 0-0-2, skating to back-to-back 3-3 ties on October 15th-16th.
Last season, Regina hosted and defeated Manitoba in two straight games (4-2, 4-3) in the Great Plains Division, while it took three games for Calgary to get by UBC (5-2, 1-3, 6-2) in the Mountain Division.
The winners of the two semi-final series advance to the division finals on Friday-Sunday, March 4th-6th, with the Saskatchewan Huskies hosting the Great Plains final and the Alberta Golden Bears the Mountain Division final.
BEUKER CLAIMS SCORING TITLE: A five-point weekend secured the Canada West Hockey scoring crown for Saskatchewan forward Dean Bueker. The Huskies third-year right winger scored once and added an assist in Saskatchewan's 7-1 win over Manitoba on February 18th and concluded the season with three assists in the season ending 6-3 victory on February 19th.
Beuker finished the season with a conference leading 46 points, scoring 15 goals and topping Canada West Hockey with 31 assists as he finished seven points in front of Manitoba's Paul Deniset (23-16-39) and Alberta's Brad Tutschek (13-26-39), who tied for second place.
It marks the second time in his three seasons that Beuker has won the conference scoring title as he earned the Dave "Sweeney" Schriner Trophy during his freshman season, scoring 16-30-46 in 28 games during the 2002-03 season. He becomes the 10th player in Canada West Hockey history and the first Saskatchewan Huskie, to win multiple scorin