The Canada West Hockey division leaders continue to lead as the Mountain Division leading University of Alberta Golden Bears and the Great Plains Division leading University of Saskatchewan Huskies earned sweeps in Canada West Hockey weekend action on Friday-Saturday, October 29th-30th. The University of Manitoba Bisons kept pace with the Huskies as they also skated to a sweep on the weekend, and trail Saskatchewan by only two points.
All three sweeps were collected by home teams as the number one ranked Alberta Golden Bears defeated the University of Regina Cougars 4-1 and 5-1 at Clare Drake Arena, ninth ranked Manitoba outscored the University of Lethbridge 16-2 with 6-1 and 10-1 victories, and in a series between CIS Top Ten teams, number three ranked Saskatchewan edged the ninth ranked University of Calgary Dinos 6-4 and 4-2 at Rutherford Arena.
The UBC Thunderbirds dropped both ends of a non-conference series against the University of Alaska-Fairbanks 5-0 and 5-3 at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks, Alaska.
With their two wins, Alberta and Saskatchewan remain atop their respective division standings as the Golden Bears have a 7-1-0 conference record and hold an eight point lead over Calgary in the Mountain Division. In the Great Plains Division, the Huskies are two points in front of Manitoba.
INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
Multiple point games were aplenty for the Manitoba Bisons in their series wins Lethbridge as nine players combined for a total of 11 multiple point games. Freshmen Grant Jacobsen and Reagan Leslie each had two multiple point games. Jacobsen scored 1-2-3 in both games against the Pronghorns and earned an assist on both game-winning goals. Leslie tallied 1-1-2 on Friday and 1-2-3 in the series' final game on Saturday. Seven of the 11 MPGs came in Manitoba's 10-1 win in the series finale and included four games of three-or-more points. Aaron Starr (2-2-4) and Paul Deniset (0-4-4) had four point games, while Jacobsen and Leslie had three points. Defenceman Andrew Kaminsky played in only one game against Lethbridge, but the fifth-year defenceman made the most of his time with a three assist game. His first assist in the 6-1 Bisons victory came on Mike Van Den Bosch's game-winning goal.
Dan Kitching and Chad Rideout were the only Pronghorns to beat Manitoba goaltender Krister Toews in the series, with Kitching scoring on Friday and Rideout on Saturday. Rideout scored the game's first goal only 43 seconds from the opening face-off, but it was all Manitoba from then on as the Bisons scored the next 10 goals.
Alberta outshot Regina 90-25 in their series, including 50-9 in the Golden Bears 4-1 win in the series opener on Friday. Cougars goaltender Rob Muntain was outstanding on Friday, making 46 saves, including 20 in the third period. Muntain made a total of 81 saves in the series as he also stopped 35 of 40 shots on Saturday, giving him a .900 save percentage for the series.
Defenceman Jeff Zorn and forward Joff Kehler led Golden Bears scorers with three point weekends. Zorn, a first year student in the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine, had two assists on Friday and scored his second goal of the season on Saturday. Freshman Kehler opened the series with an assist on Friday and then added 1-1-2 on Saturday. Saturday's assist came on Doug Auchenberg's game winner. It was the first of two goals for Auchenberg in the 5-1 win.
Both of Regina's goals were scored in the opening period as defenceman Scott Haggarty opened the scoring on Friday and team captain Adam Fraser scored a powerplay goal on Saturday.
Fifth-year forward Dean Beuker was in on six of Saskatchewan's 10 goals in the series sweep over Calgary. Beuker led the way with four points on a goal and three assists on Friday and then scored twice more on Saturday. Jon Barkman and Sco