For the second consecutive week, the Canada West Hockey leading University of Alberta Golden Bears swept a series from a CIS Top Ten team. A week after earning two road wins over the second ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies, Alberta took both ends of a home series from the University of Manitoba, defeating the fourth ranked Bisons 6-1 and 5-3 on Friday-Saturday, November 19th-20th.
In Saskatoon, the Saskatchewan Huskies returned to the win column with a sweep of the UBC Thunderbirds at Rutherford Arena. After dropping their first two conference games with losses to Alberta last week, the Huskies skated past UBC 5-3 and 6-1 to move back into first place in the Great Plains Division. At Regina, the University of Regina Cougars moved closer to second place in the Great Plains Division with 3-2 OT and 4-0 wins against the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns. Regina's two wins moved the Cougars to within four points of second place Manitoba.
Alberta's two wins over Manitoba extended the Golden Bears winning streak at Clare Drake Arena versus conference opponents to 54 games. The Golden Bears are now 53-0-1 on home ice in Canada West Hockey games since their last loss - a 4-2 decision to Saskatchewan on January 12, 2001. The losses ended the Bisons' undefeated streak at 10 games. Manitoba had gone 8-0-2 from October 9th to November 13th.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE: Three series are on tap as the Canada West Hockey heads into the second-to-last week of the season's first half. With the Great Plains Division leading Saskatchewan Huskies having the bye in the schedule this week, the Manitoba Bisons are looking to close the gap between them and the Huskies. Manitoba, which trails Saskatchewan by three points, will be hosting the Regina Cougars and Mike Sirant's team will be looking both ways as they take the ice on Friday-Saturday, November 26th-27th. Besides trying to close the gap on Saskatchewan, Manitoba will be looking to extend its lead over the third place Cougars, who trail second place Manitoba by four points in the Great Plains Division standings. The teams have met previously this season in Canada West Hockey conference play with Manitoba holding a 1-0-1 record following a 3-3 OT tie and 4-3 win at Regina on October 15th-16th.he season opening series.
Another crucial series on the slate this week sees the Lethbridge Pronghorns hosting the UBC Thunderbirds at Nicholas Sheran Arena. The two teams are separated by a single point in the Mountain Division standings with the Thunderbirds holding a one-point lead over Lethbridge. The two teams are in a battle for third place and the final playoff berth in the Mountain Division.
The weekend's final series is a meeting of provincial rivals as the Alberta Golden Bears and Calgary Dinos play a home-and -home series. Calgary hosts the series opener on Friday at Father David Bauer Arena before the series moves north to Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton on Saturday. Alberta enters the series with a 40-game undefeated streak against Calgary as the Golden Bears are 35-0-5 since their last loss to the Dinos, a 6-5 loss at Clare Drake Arena on February 5, 1999.