CALGARY - The Calgary Dinos, who are in a four way tie for second place in Canada West, face off against the conference's number one team, the Saskatchewan Huskies this weekend in Saskatoon. The Dinos, who have eight points through six games, are currently only five points behind the Huskies, with four games in hand.
The Dinos come off of a weekend sweep over the Regina Cougars, winning a couple of close games in front of their Calgary crowd. The Dinos grinded out a 3-1 win on Friday, looking a little sluggish coming off of their bye week. On Saturday, the Dinos put forth a very gutsy effort, coming back from an early Regina lead to win on a Brock Nixon shootout winner, 4-3. Neither win was overly pretty, but it was encouraging for the Dinos to see two hard-working games go in their favour
Secondary scoring came to the fore-front for the Dinos this weekend, as typical offensive sparkplugs Torrie Wheat and Reid Jorgensen were held to only one assist, courtesy of Wheat. Rising to the top were forwards Teegan Moore and Brett O'Malley, who each had three points on the weekend.
Goaltenders Jeff Weber and Dustin Butler continued to split time between the pipes for the Dinos, both earning victories on Friday and Saturday respectively. Weber currently leads Canada West with a very solid 2.01 GAA, with a 2-1 record thus far.
The ninth-ranked Dinos will go into Saskatoon to face a Huskies team coming off of a weekend split with the Alberta Golden Bears. An offensive display on Friday ultimately resulted in a 7-6 loss for Saskatchewan, but the Huskies were able to rebound with an impressive 5-2 victory on Saturday.
The Huskies, who are ranked second in the country behind the Bears, are led by the top two point-getters in Canada West, Steven DaSilva and Steven Gillen. With 21 and 17 points respectively, both Stevens have a very comfortable lead in the points race, with the next best total being 11, and are largely responsible for Saskatchewan's 6-3-1 record.
The Huskies are grateful for their strong offensive pressure, as their goaltenders Jeff Harvey and Russell Monette have struggled through ten games, letting in 29 goals in the four games they have dropped. With GAAs of 3.64 and 4.05 respectively, their play in net will need to improve in order for the Huskies to stay at the top of the standings.
Calgary will look to shut down the impressive Huskies offensive pressure as well as get to the Saskatchewan goaltenders early. Should the Dinos find themselves capitalizing on both these keys, victories should be well within their reach. One victory alone against the Huskies this weekend will set the Dinos up very well as the season rolls along, as they have played four fewer games without giving up too much space in the standings.
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