CALGARY – The third place University of Calgary Dinos, who sit five points ahead of the next closest teams in the standings and only one point out of first place, invite the streaking University of Saskatchewan Huskies into town this weekend for a two game series.

This weekend's set could have fairly substantial implications for both teams, who are each looking to keep moving forward in the standings.

With Manitoba (currently tied for first with the Alberta Golden Bears) on their bye this weekend, and the Bears heading to Vancouver for two games with the UBC T-Birds, the Dinos could find themselves all alone in first by the end of the weekend. With much depending on how many points in the standings the Bears can pick up, the Dinos know for certain that they can move into a tie for at least second place with one overtime loss, and can take sole possession of the position with a win.

The Huskies are looking at a different situation after a surprising 0-4 start to the season. Currently sitting in sixth place, Saskatchewan has won three of their past four, and now seems to be back on track. They can potentially move up to fourth place with a sweep of the Dinos, but could also find themselves back in last place should they slip up.

The Huskies are running into a hot goaltender in Dustin Butler, who has all five of the Dinos wins in 2009, and is improving statistically with each passing game. With his only blemish being a big loss to Alberta early in the season; Butler has compiled a respectable 2.79 GAA and a 0.917 save percentage, which is good for third in the conference.

The Dinos have thus far been able to put fairly good offensive pressure on their opposition, with a five goal outburst against the Cougars sitting as their second most productive game of the young season. Reid Jorgensen sits eighth in Canada West with nine points, with the majority of those coming as helpers, while Torrie Wheat and Brock Nixon each have five goals to their credit. Wheat had his breakout weekend against Regina, scoring three goals and adding two assists to lead Calgary.

Second year Saskatchewan sensation Steven DaSilva leads the Huskies again in 2009, with 12 points over eight games. DaSilva, who was the Canada West Rookie of the Year as well as the conference's Most Valuable Player in 2008 with 41 points over 26 games, is a constant threat and will command a very strong Dinos defensive performance in order to be contained.

The Huskies were Canada West runners-up in 2008, and despite struggles out of the gate in 2009, remain a strong threat in the conference. 17 year head coach Dave Adolph's club recently mauled the Lethbridge Pronghorns in the hostile Rutherford Rink in Saskatoon, outscoring them 16-3 over two games. Regina Cougars transfer Kyle Ross and former Calgary Hitmen forward Kyle Bortis help solidify the Huskies' offensive attack with eight and seven points respectively on the year.

The teams will face off on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Father David Bauer Arena. Following the weekend tilt, Calgary will take in a bye-weekend before heading to Edmonton on the weekend of Nov. 20, while the Saskatchewan will return home and tangle with the UBC Thunderbirds on Nov. 13-14.

-UC-