CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos peppered rookie Alberta goalie Real Cyr with 25 shots on which they scored seven goals in a 7-1 victory Saturday night, splitting their weekend series with the Golden Bears.
Cyr (Victoire, SK), filling in for injured Canada West 2nd Team All-Star Aaron Sorochan (4th, Edmonton), simply had no answers for the Dinos offense on Saturday night. Kyle Annesley (3rd, Moose Jaw, SK) and Brett O'Malley (4th, Calgary) scored two each for Calgary, and Torrie Wheat (3rd, Nanaimo) continued his stellar play, helping out with two assists on the night.
The Bears were unable to answer the Dinos' offensive explosion until late in the third period, where defenseman Kyle Fecho (3rd, Hanna, AB) made good on a two-man advantage. Fecho's goal ended Calgary goaltender Jeff Weber's (4th, Ottawa) shutout bid, but simply came too late for the Bears.
Dinos head coach Scott Atkinson was happy with his team's effort tonight but maintained that Calgary's 2-2 Canada West record could be better.
“We played very well tonight and showed good energy,” Atkinson said. “Yesterday was a good effort too though; we just played poorly for 10 minutes in the first, where they jumped on us right away. We can't do that, we did that against UBC too. We play well on Saturdays, but need to be better on Fridays.”
Friday's series opener in Edmonton saw the Bears down the Dinos 6-1.
The Dinos got a very good performance from goaltender Jeff Weber, who faced more shots (30) than his Alberta counterpart. Atkinson credited his goaltender for rising to the occasion.
“Weber was really good tonight,” he said. “He made some big saves at key times and the defense was solid in front of him. It was nice to see him play at the competitive level that we expect him to, we're very happy with that.”
Weber was no doubt helped significantly from a total team effort in blocking shots in front of him. The Dinos fended off countless Alberta chances by sacrificing their bodies in their own zone.
The Bears, who came out of the gate quickly but faded after the Dinos first goal, could not catch a break all night. Alberta had their share of chances, ringing a few off of the post and missing open nets wide, but perhaps their best opportunity came on a breakaway for team captain Tyler Metcalfe (4th, Headingley, MB), who fell on the play. The missed opportunity was symbolic of the Bears' night.
Goal scorers for Calgary were Annesley, Metcalfe, Paul Gentile (4th, Calgary), Reid Jorgensen (2nd, Vancouver) and Brock Nixon (1st, Russell, MB).
The Bears will need to shake the tough loss off and look forward to their next opponent, where next weekend they travel to Vancouver to face the UBC T-Birds.
The Dinos get a week off from action, and then invite the Regina Cougars to the Father David Bauer Arena Oct. 24-25.
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