In a meeting of the top two ranked teams in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the number one ranked Alberta Golden Bears lived up to their national ranking with a two-game sweep of the second ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday-Saturday, November 12th-13th. Backed by the outstanding play of goaltender Dustin Schwartz, Alberta registered back-to-back shutouts of Saskatchewan, defeating the Huskies 3-0 and 1-0 at Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon.
In other Canada West Hockey action the University of Manitoba Bisons earned three of four points from their series against the UBC Thunderbirds, winning 6-2 and tying 3-3 (OT) on the road, while the Calgary Dinos ended a four-game losing streak with a pair of wins over the University of Regina Cougars, winning 2-0 and 5-1 at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.
With their sweep of Saskatchewan, the Golden Bears leapfrogged past Saskatchewan into first place in the Canada West Hockey combined standings, improving their conference record to 9-1-0.
Manitoba's three-point weekend, combined with Saskatchewan's two losses to Alberta, moves the Bisons into first place in the Great Plains Division, a single point ahead of the Huskies. The Bisons are on a nine-game undefeated streak, compiling a 7-0-2 record from October 9th to November 13th, and sit two points behind Alberta in the combined standings.
Calgary evened its conference record at .500 with their two wins over Regina as goaltender Don Choukalos allowed only a single goal in the two games. The Dinos are now 4-4-2 in 10 Canada West Hockey games and are in second place in the Mountain Division, eight points behind Alberta.
INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
Alberta goaltender Dustin Schwartz earned Canada West Hockey Player of the Week honors with a pair of shutouts against Saskatchewan. The fifth-year netminder made a total of 61 saves in earning his conference-leading third and fourth shutouts of the season. Schwartz opened the series with a season-high 34 saves in Alberta's 3-0 win on Friday and them made 27 more saves in Saturday's 1-0 victory. Schwartz tops Canada West Hockey in GAA (0.67) and save percentage (.974) and is 2nd with six wins.
The back-to-back shutouts marks the ninth time in Alberta history that the Golden Bears have registered shutouts in consecutive games and the seventh time in Canada West Hockey conference play. Schwartz, who moved into second place on the conference's career shutout list with 10, has been involved in four of the last five sets of shutouts for Alberta dating back to the 2000-01 season.
Golden Bears forward Jonathan Hobson registered his first multiple-goal game of the season, scoring two of Alberta's three goals in Friday's 3-0 win. Hobson opened the scoring 3:21 into the first period with his first goal and rounded out the scoring at 6:22 of the third period.
Assistant captain Tyler Shybunka led the Golden Bears offence with three points, netting 1-2-3. Shybunka, who is tied with teammate Ben Thomson for fourth place in the Canada West Hockey scoring race with 6-8-14, scored 1-1-2 on Friday and added an assist on Saturday. Each of his two assists came on the Golden Bears game-winning goals by Jonathan Hobson and Ben Thomson.
Despite suffering his first two conference losses, Saskatchewan goaltender Thomas Vicars was outstanding in goal for the Huskies. Vicars, who entered the series with Alberta with a 6-0-1 record, stopped 59 of the Golden Bears 63 shots and lowered his goals-against average to 2.42. He earned third star honors in Friday's 3-0 loss and was the game's second star on Saturday.
Calgary goatlender Don Choukalos registered his second career shutout with a 19 save effort in Calgary's 2-0 victory over the Regina Cougars on Friday. He allowed only a single goal in the series with Regina as he made 18 saves in Saturday's 5-1 win.
Choukalos has been hot since returning to the Calgary Dinos lineup l