EDMONTON - Two goals in the opening five minutes of the game paced the University of Alberta Golden Bears hockey team to a 6-1 season-opening victory over the Calgary Dinos, Friday night at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.
Third year forward Chad Klassen opened the scoring just 1:54 into the first frame and was followed by an Ian McDonald goal at the four-minute mark to give Alberta the early lead and the win. The loss drops the Dinos, who split their season-opening series against UBC, to 1-2, while the Bears are 1-0 in Conference play and 4-3-0 in overall action.
Torrie Wheat, who led the Canada West in scoring before tonight with six goals in two games, added to his numbers when he beat Alberta starting goalie Aaron Sorochan at the seven-minute mark of the first, to draw the Dinos within one. Sorochan was injured on the play but finished the period before giving way to rookie netminder, Real Cyr, who finished the game for Alberta.
The Wheat effort was as close as Calgary would get as Jesse Gimblett scored a beautiful goal four minutes after the Dino marker, when he deked Calgary goalie Dustin Butler to the left and punched the puck to the right, restoring Alberta's two-goal cushion. McDonald and Shaden Moore drew the assists, which means Alberta's new number one line of McDonald, Gimblett and Eric Hunter have combined for 24 points in six overall games so far this season. Hunter collected the second assist on McDonald's earlier tally and the two combined for another Alberta goal in the third.
Third year defenceman Kyle Fecho scored on a screened power-play rocket from the right side in the second period to pad the lead for the Bears who outshot their Alberta rivals 22-16 through two periods of play.
Cyr was sharp in his first Conference action as the Dinos stepped up the play in the third period, outshooting Alberta 16-11, but were unable to solve the freshman from Victoire, Saskatchewan.
Hunter broke up a Calgary rush midway through the third period and sent McDonald and Brian Woolger in on a two-on-one situation, with Woolger calmly slotting home the McDonald pass into the top half of the Calgary cage behind Butler. Just 40 seconds later, Woolger added his second of the contest (and the season) when he tapped in a rebound off Dale Mahovsky's initial shot.
Alberta finished the night with a 32-26 shot advantage and went 1-6 on the power-play while the Dinos were blanked four times in extra-attacker situations.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow night, this time in Calgary for the second half of their home-and-home series. Puck drop is 7:00 pm at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.
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