CALGARY – Rookie striker Brett Howard broke out of his goal-scoring slump, and the Calgary Dinos created much-needed separation from the Saskatchewan Huskies in a 3-1 victory.

BOX SCORE

Calgary, who was tied with Saskatchewan for fourth place in Canada West coming into Saturday's match, collected a vital three points in the standings to move into sole possession of third. The outright win ensured that the Huskies earned no points, which has them now in fifth, two points back of fourth place Trinity Western, who lost on Saturday afternoon.

With first place Alberta coming into Calgary on Sunday afternoon, the Dinos will have their hands full in their attempt to gain even more ground in the postseason positioning race, while the Huskies will battle with the 1-8-2 Lethbridge Pronghorns. With UBC and TWU scheduled to play their second games of the weekend tomorrow as well, the standings will almost certainly be re-shuffled again in about 24 hours time.

Brett Howard opened the scoring for the Dinos early on Saturday, beating Saskatchewan goalkeeper Mark Diakiw with a beautiful header off a Dylan Tooby cross. The goal snapped a 10 game scoring slump for the highly-regarded forward, who had three assists coming into the weekend.

Full of confidence after shedding that weight from his shoulders, Howard would strike again on only his second shot of the afternoon. Taking a pass from Izak Lawrence in front of Diakiw, Howard would pound a low shot right into the open part of the net, giving the Dinos a 2-0 lead with only six minutes remaining in the half.

Having scored four goals in just under six minutes against Lethbridge earlier in the season, the Huskies have proven they can score quickly and in bunches, and they seemed ready to push right away coming out of the break.

In the midst of consistent pressure in front of #J.P. Crescenzi# to start the second, Paul Craig would connect in the 59th minute, absolutely wiring a shot through a crowd of players into the heart of the Dinos' net, which seemed to give his fired-up Huskies the momentum they would need.

However, shortly thereafter, Calgary would cool-off any thoughts of a Saskatchewan comeback. On a corner kick from Ilya Zelinskiy, Jeff Marsden would pound a short range shot into the Huskies' net, sealing the deal for the Dinos.

Crescenzi had five saves for the Dinos, while Diakiw had six for the Huskies.

For Brett Howard, the goals came easier with the support from his teammates.

“I recently finished up with the Foothills Crew at Nationals, where I was able to score five goals in four games,” said the rookie striker. “The combination of having that recent confidence as well as having the constant encouragement from my team really made me relax and find my touch again. I'm really happy to have helped the team today.”

Calgary will recognize their fifth-year seniors in tomorrows afternoon match against Alberta, which is the Dinos' last home game of the season. Saskatchewan will head south to face the Lethbridge Pronghorns.

-UC-