CALGARY – Driven by three point efforts from forwards Torrie Wheat and Reid Jorgensen, the University of Calgary Dinos put forth their best effort of the season on Friday night, defeating the visiting University of Manitoba Bisons by a score of 6-1.

BOX SCORE

With a goal and two helpers, Jorgensen makes it ten straight games with a point, and moves up to seventh in Canada West in scoring with the effort. Wheat also cracked the top-ten, sliding up into the tenth spot with two early goals and an assist.

Dustin Butler made 22 saves in the victory for Calgary, while Canada West leading goaltender Steve Christie made 16 saves on 21 shots before being pulled for teammate Jesse Deckert to start the third.

Calgary came out fast in the Friday tilt, knowing full well that only victories would help them keep pace with the then-second place Bisons.

Teegan Moore opened the scoring for the Dinos, burying a pass from defenceman Dan Ehrman in front of Christie only three minutes into the game. The nice pass from Ehrman started a trend for Calgary, as the Dinos found much success using the pass in the offensive zone.

Wheat took credit for Calgary's next two goals with a tip-in and a hard wrist shot, bringing the Dinos into the break with a 3-0 lead.

While the Dinos had trouble last weekend against Lethbridge holding a lead, rookie Cory Pritz made a personal note of making sure this did not become habitual for his team. Taking full advantage of a second period power play that carried over from a Manitoba holding penalty late in the first, Pritz deftly dangled away two Bisons in the slot before sliding it past a bewildered Christie, making it 4-0 in dramatic fashion. The Dinos would score on both of their power play chances in an otherwise very tame match, as the penalty box doors were only opened four times in total.

The Bisons would get their best offensive chances in the second half of the second period, with Jared Walker rifling a shot past the stick side of Butler midway through the frame. Manitoba would get two more golden opportunities, where Ian Duval was robbed twice of an empty net, once by an alert Eric Frere with Butler out of position, and once by a spectacular diving save from the second year goaltender.

Jorgensen and Brett O'Malley would round out the scoring for Calgary, with Jorgensen's coming on a textbook give-and-go situation with captain Aaron Richards.

Calgary head coach Mark Howell was very satisfied with his team's consistent effort on Friday night.

“That was the first game all year that we played for the full 60 minutes,” said the first year coach. “We've managed plenty of 30, 40 and 45 minute efforts all season, waiting to slip up. But today we got solid performances everywhere, from good goaltending all the way up to our forwards.”

“Manitoba is a fast team that likes to put pressure on teams,” Howell continued. “As such, we'd been stressing this week to turn our longer passes into shorter, more accurate ones, and I think it worked really well for us in both zones.”

With the victory, the Dinos and Bisons are now tied for second in Canada West, and once the Saturday rematch is complete, one of the two squads will occupy the spot all alone. Puck drops at 7 p.m. at the Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.

-UC-