Three series sweep were the highlight of the week as the University of Alberta Golden Bears, University of Manitoba Bisons and University of Saskatchewan Huskies earned back-to-back victories in Canada West Hockey conference play on Friday-Saturday,November 18th-19th.
Alberta returned to action after having the bye in the schedule last week, and ended a three-game winless streak with 8-1 and 5-4 OT wins over the visiting University of Regina Cougars at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton. The Golden Bears wins ended a streak that had seen Alberta compile a 0-2-1 record in three road games from October 29th to November 6th.
While Alberta ended its winless streak with the sweep of Regina, both Manitoba and Saskatchewan used their series sweeps to extend undefeated streaks.
The number one ranked Huskies extended their undefeated streak to 11 games with a pair of 5-2 road wins against the University of Calgary Dinos. The two victories give Saskatchewan a record of 8-0-3 from October 21st to November 19th. The Huskies, who are 5-0-2 at home and 3-0-1 on the road during the streak, last loss came on October 17th when they dropped a 3-1 decision to Regina at Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon.
Manitoba skated to back-to-back one-goal victories on the road, defeating the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 2-1 and 3-2, to extend its winning streak to five games. The Bisons are 5-0-0 from November 5th to 19th and have moved into second place in the Great Plains Division. By virtue of their five-game winning streak, the Bisons have leapfrogged past Regina and now hold a three-point lead over the third place Cougars. Manitoba, who was 2-6-1 in its first nine games, has won six of its last seven games and moved above the .500 mark for the first time in conference play with the wins over Lethbridge. The Bisons are now 7-6-1.
In Edmonton, Ben Thomson registered his first hat trick of the season to lead the Golden Bears to their series opening 8-1 win on Friday. Thomson opened the games scoring with a powerplay goal and then scored twice in a span of 18 seconds in the third period as Alberta scored three times in a span of 37 seconds. With the score 3-1 in the third period, defenceman Jeff Feniak scored his first conference goal at 4:49. Nineteen seconds later Thomson netted his second of the night at 5:08 and completed his hat trick at 5:26 as Alberta extended its lead to 6-1.
Fourteen of the Golden Bears 18 skaters scored at least one point, with seven players registering multiple point games. Ben Kilgour returned to the lineup after missing three weeks due to injury and scored 1-1-2 in his return. Braden Appleby scored his first collegiate goal at 17:33 of the opening period and it proved to be the game winner.
Caine Pearpoints fourth goal of the season, a powerplay goal, was the only shot to elude Alberta netminder Aaron Sorochan as Regina was outshot 38-16.
Chris Ovingtons second goal of the game 1:23 into overtime capped an Alberta comeback that saw the Golden Bears rally from a 4-2 deficit to win 5-4 on Saturday.
Lance Herauf scored twice in the first period as the Cougars built a 2-1 lead in the games opening 20 minutes. Herauf opened the scoring with a powerplay marker at 6:37 and then broke a 1-1 tie with a breakaway goal at 17:52. Reginas goals came on the Cougars only shots of the period as Alberta outshot Regina 13-2. Josh Garbutt and Jeff Cutting would give the Cougars a 4-2 lead 1:25 into the third period before the Golden Bears began their rally.
Freshman Dylan Stanley and Ben Kilgour scored at 2:21 and 9:19 of the third period, respectively, to tie the score at 4-4. Cougars netminder Clint Chalmers played a pivotal role in the Regina goal, making 38 saves in the game and 15 in the third period alone as Alberta held a 43-18 advantage in shots.
Ovington, who also scored a first period powerplay goal and a second period powerplay assist, netted the game winner 1:2