The Alberta Golden Bears and Manitoba Bisons skated to series sweeps in Canada West Hockey play on Friday-Saturday, November 10th-11th. The number one ranked Golden Bears returned to action after having the bye in last weeks schedule, and extended their winning streak to five games with a 6-2 win and a 4-3 shootout victory over the visiting Regina Cougars at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton. Manitoba extended its winning streak to three games with a pair of come-from-behind wins over the Calgary Dinos in Winnipeg.
Josh Belairs overtime goal capped a four-goal comeback in Manitobas 5-4 victory on Friday and the Bisons netted five goals in a span of just under eight minutes in the second period to overcome a two-goal deficit in Saturdays 5-2 victory.
The third series of the weekend saw the Saskatchewan Huskies and UBC Thunderbirds split the two games played at Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon. The homestanding Huskies took the series opener as Jeff Harvey registered his first shutout of the season and the fourth of his CIS career with 21 saves in a 2-0 victory. Behind strong goaltending by freshman Francois Thuot and a two-goal effort by Darrell May, the Thunderbirds rallied to earn the split with a 4-1 win in the series finale on Saturday.
Albertas two victories, combined with Calgary earning only a single point from its two losses at Manitoba, bring the Golden Bears back into first place in the Mountain Division of Canada West Hockey. Both Alberta and Calgary hold the top spot in the division with 17 points, but the Golden Bears have two games in hand on the Dinos. Alberta will make-up the difference in games this coming weekend with Calgary having the bye in the schedule.
Sophomore center Dylan Stanley paced Alberta to its two wins with a six-point series. Stanley was involved in six of the Golden Bears 10 goals, scoring twice and assisting on four goals. He opened the weekend with a four-point night in the 6-2 victory on Friday, netting two goals and adding two assists. Stanley combined with linemates Richard Hamula and Dale Mahovsky for eight points as Mahovsky scored a single-game career-high three assists and Hamula added a goal.
Stanley would add two assists in Saturdays 4-3 shootout victory as he earned helpers on powerplay goals by Tim Krymusa and Ben Kilgour. Krymusa led the way for Alberta, scoring twice as the Golden Bears took a 3-1 lead after two periods of play before Regina rallied with two third period goals 44 seconds apart to force overtime. After Dustin Bru scored a first period powerplay goal for the Cougars, Scott Degelman and James Ardelan capitalized on Alberta turnovers to score at 4:48 and 5:32 of the third period, respectively, to tie the game at 3-3.
There was no further scoring in the third period or in overtime, forcing the game to a shootout to decide the winner. In the sixth game of the season requiring a shootout, the Golden Bears outscored Regina 2-1 to claim the win. Kilgour and Ian McDonald, with the deciding goal, scored for Alberta in the three shot shootout, while Ardelan was the only Cougar to beat Golden Bears goaltender Blake Grenier. The win evened Albertas shootout record on the season at 1-1, while Reginas record fell to 1-2.
Ardelan was the offensive sparkplug for the Cougars, scoring 1-3-4 in the two games. The third-year forward from Avonlea, SK assisted on both Regina goals in Fridays loss and then added a goal and an assist on Saturday. He also accounted for the Cougars lone goal in the shootout. Dustin Bru also had a goal and an assist on Saturday for Regina.
Having gone 1-5-0 in their last six conference games, the Manitoba Bisons were looking to turn things around as they faced-off against Calgary at Max Bell Arena in Winnipeg. In both games the Bisons fell behind, but were able to rally for back-to-back wins over the fifth ranked Dinos.
The series opener saw Calgary jump into a 3-0 first period lead on goals by con