CALGARY – Chad Klassen scored his Canada West-leading seventh goal with 18 seconds remaining in regulation, and Sean Ringrose scored the lone shootout goal as the No. 1 University of Alberta Golden Bears escaped Father David Bauer Arena with a 5-4 victory over the No. 10 University of Calgary Dinos Friday night.

BOX SCORE

Despite a riveting third-period comeback in which Matt Isbister scored his first two goals of the season and Torrie Wheat added another, the Dinos earned only a single point as they dropped to 4-2-1. The Golden Bears improved to a conference-best 6-1-0 on the strength of their 3-0-0 record versus the Dinos so far this season.

Alberta dominated play in the opening period, but the contest remained scoreless until 4:34 of the second frame when Johnny Lazo collected a point shot rebound and neatly deked to his backhand to deposit the game's first goal.

JP Szaszkiewicz doubled the advantage a mere 18 seconds later by deflecting Kyle Fecho's slap shot past Dinos goaltender Dustin Butler.

Having been pinned in their own end for the first half of the game, the Dinos began to find their legs midway through the second, and an Ian Barteaux hooking minor stimulated the Dinos' offensive attack of the first time. After the Dinos' Cory Pritz was robbed by a phenomenal pad save from Alberta first-year goaltender Kurtis Mucha, Calgary regrouped and broke through on the power play when Luke Egener fired a one-timer from the point into the upper left corner to make the score 2-1.

Alberta's lead almost disappeared in the dying seconds of the second. Wheat blocked an Alberta point shot and raced down the ice on a short-handed breakaway to fire one of his game-high six shots, but was ultimately stoned by the glove of Mucha.

After Klassen scored for the Bears two minutes into the third, Calgary got a break when Isbister flipped an unobstructed wrist shot from the blue line that Mucha inexplicably whiffed, once again cutting the lead to one.

Riding a wave of momentum, Calgary went back to the power play midway through the period and Wheat converted a nice pass from Brock Nixon to equalize the game at three goals apiece.

The Dinos appeared to have a game-winning goal at 18:56 when Isbister hammered home a loose puck in front of the Golden Bears net for a 4-3 lead, but Klassen drew a collective groan out of the Dinos faithful when his snapshot from the slot lit the lamp in the dying seconds with the Alberta net empty.

Overtime was mostly uneventful, leading to a shootout in which both goaltenders shined by posting blanks for the first four rounds. Macha opened the fifth round with a stunning glove save to rob Jerrid Sauer, which allowed Ringrose to beat Butler stick side to seal the victory.

The Dinos will vie for the full two points tomorrow night when the back half of weekend series shifts north to Edmonton. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Clare Drake Arena.

-UC-