CALGARY – Brock Nixon's shootout winner and a 37-save performance by Dustin Butler gave the University of Calgary Dinos a season-opening 3-2 win over the Alberta Golden Bears Friday night, giving new Dinos coach Mark Howell his first CIS victory.

BOX SCORE

After Jesse Gimblett's power play marker for Alberta early in the third knotted the affair at two goals apiece, the teams skated through overtime and into the shootout. Calgary's Kyle Annesley and Alberta's Ian McDonald both scored on their teams' first shots of the night, but both teams were unable to score through their next two shooters. In the fourth round, Nixon made good on the blocker side to beat Real Cyr, and a glove save by Butler on Gimblett iced the win for the Dinos.

Howell was happy with the full-game effort from his team.

“I think at the start of the game, we were a bit apprehensive, and still a bit unsure of how good we really were after losing some tough games in Colorado last weekend,” said the first-year coach. “But as the game went on, you could see that we started to believe in ourselves more and more, which then led to the positive result. Of course, anytime you get some big saves from your goaltender, it's pretty easy to get more confidence too. Overall it was fun out there, and a great way to get our first victory.”

In a see-saw game with various rushes of momentum for each team, Calgary received goals from fourth year forwards Kyle Annesley and Torrie Wheat, who was active all night with eight shots on goal, while Eric Hunter and Gimblett, who combined for 12 shots on the night, replied for the Golden Bears.

The teams also combined for 15 penalties on the night, making for yet another chippy Battle of Alberta affair. The biggest penalty kill of the night came courtesy of Butler and the Dinos, with Calgary a man down for four straight minutes late in the third after a double-minor kneeing penalty was assessed to Teegan Moore.

Butler, who split time with Jeff Weber last season, did his best work in the later stages of the game, making an astonishing 20 saves in the third and overtime periods. Put in an awkward position on an advantage play in the extra frame, Butler made consecutive tough saves on Alberta forwards Hunter and Greg Gardner to push it to the shootout period.

The Bears, who were Canada West champions in 2008-09, fought back valiantly from a 2-1 deficit after two periods, firing 20 shots on goal in the third and the extra frame, but could not capitalize on the pressure. Alberta got 25 saves and a solid performance from Real Cyr in the loss, and now sit at 2-0-1 on the season.

After beating his alma mater in his first game behind the bench in Canada West competition, Howell and the Dinos move to 1-0-0 on the season.

The two teams get right back at it Saturday night in the back end of the home-and-home series, with puck drop at 7:30 p.m. at Clare Drake Arena.

-UC-