Both the University of Manitoba Bisons and University of Lethbridge Pronghorns moved up one place in the Canada West Hockey standings following series victories over the University of Regina Cougars and the UBC Thunderbirds, respectively, on Friday-Saturday, November 27th-28th.
The Bisons earned their fifth series victory with a sweep of Regina, defeating the Cougars 5-1 in Souris, Manitoba on Friday and 4-0 in Winnipeg on Saturday. The four points improved Manitoba's record to 9-3-2 and moved the Bisons into first place in the Great Plains Division with 20 points, one more than the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, who had the bye in the schedule on the weekend. Saskatchewan, which has a 9-2-1 conference record, has a chance to return to the top of the division standings this week as the Huskies host the Bisons at Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon.
Manitoba's two victories over Regina ended a three-game winless streak as the Bisons were 0-2-1 from November 13th-20th. Prior to the winless streak the Bisons had put together a 10-game undefeated streak, going 8-0-2 from October 9th to November 13th.
Lethbridge opened its series against UBC with a 7-3 victory in the series opener as Billy Katelnikoff (2-1-3), Grant Ranslam (1-2-3) and Dan Kitching (1-2-3) paced the offence with three point nights. The victory ended an 11-game losing streak that had seen the Pronghorns go without a win from October 9th to November 20th and the seven goals scored equaled a season-high for the Lethbridge offence. Lethbridge opened the season with a 7-2 win over the SAIT Trojans on September 17th.
Katelnikoff scored twice more in the Pronghorns 3-3 tie on Saturday as Lethbridge earned three of four points from UBC and leapfrogged past the Thunderbirds into third place in the Mountain Division. Lethbridge has a 2-11-1 conference record and is a point ahead of UBC, which sports a 0-10-4 mark.
The University of Alberta Golden Bears and University of Calgary Dinos met in a home-and-home series that saw Alberta earn a 4-3 overtime win in Calgary on Friday as freshman defenceman Joel Andresen score his first career collegiate goal 1:53 into the extra seassion. Alberta earned the sweep with a 5-2 win on home ice on Saturday night at Clare Drake Arena. The victories extended the Golden Bears current winning streak to 12 games (Oct. 15-Nov. 27) and Alberta's undefeated streak over the Dinos to 42 games. Alberta is now 37-0-5 versus Calgary since February 5, 1999.
Saturday's victory also extended a second Alberta streak as the Golden Bears are undefeated in 55 Canada West Hockey games at Clare Drake Arena. The Golden Bears are 54-0-1 on home ice in Canada West Hockey games since their last loss - a 4-2 decision to Saskatchewan on January 12, 2001.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE: Canada West Hockey concludes the first half of the schedule with three series on Friday-Saturday, December 3rd and 4th.
The highlight of the week features a head-to-head match-up against Saskatchewan and Manitoba as the two teams face-off for first place in the Great Plains Division. Manitoba holds a one-point lead over Saskatchewan heading into the weekend series at Rutherford Arena, but the Huskies have two games in hand over the Bisons. This weekend's games are the first of six between the two teams and the first of four to be played in Saskatoon.
UBC looks for its first win in conference play as the Thunderbirds host the Calgary Dinos at the Thunderbird lWinter Sports Centre in Vancouver. The teams met in the opening weekend of the conference schedule in Calgary, skating to back-to-back 3-3 overtime ties on October 15th and 16th.
In the third series of the weekend, Alberta hosts Lethbridge at Clare Drake Arena to conclude a stretch of games that has seen the Golden Bears play five of six games at home between November 19th and December 4th. It is the second time that Lethbridge has visited Alberta during the first<