CALGARY – After earning a split at home against Saskatchewan this past weekend, the no. 10 University of Calgary Dinos will head on the road to finish the first semester, where they will compete with the second place and No. 5 Manitoba Bisons.

Riding a hat-trick performance from their offensive stalwart #Reid Jorgensen,# Calgary was able to up-end the Saskatchewan Huskies 4-1 last Friday, but couldn't keep their momentum up to finish the weekend, losing 2-1. The trifecta boosted Jorgensen's yearly goal total to 10, which leads all other players in Canada West by two.

Brock Nixon scored the lone goal in the Saturday match and broke a quasi-slump in the process, as the third year forward went scoreless through his first nine games.

At home last weekend, the Bisons entertained their fans with a thorough beating of the visiting Regina Cougars. With contributions coming from all of their lines, the Bisons marked 4-1 and 6-1 victories, and vaulted two spots in the national rankings because of it.

Manitoba has otherwise quietly put together a very solid start to the season at 5-2-1, and prepare to invite the Dinos to the Max Bell Arena in Winnipeg, where both teams have had even results. Calgary and Manitoba each own 2-1-1 records against the other in the Bisons den, while Manitoba owns the overall advantage in the past three years, with a 5-2-1 record in their head-to-head matchups.

The Bisons are led by the third and fifth ranked scorers in Canada West, where Blair Macauley and Nolan Waker have contributed 14 and 10 points respectively. Both players had four point weekends in 4-1 and 6-1 victories against the Regina Cougars this past weekend.

Both teams have impressive goalkeeping situations thus far, with three of the top-six Canada West goaltenders suiting up in Winnipeg this weekend.

Manitoba boasts the second-best statistical netminder, as 2009-10 Canada West Goaltender of the Year Steve Christie boasts a 1.85 GAA. Calgary's Kris Lazaruk and Dustin Butler are fourth and sixth respectively, each with terrific 0.931 and 0.928 save percentages.

Both Jeremy Schappert and Cory Pritz have been extra valuable from their blue-line positions in 2010, where they have combined for 14 points thus far for Manitoba and Calgary respectively. Eric Frere and Luke Egener have been solid defensively for Calgary as well, while Dane Crowley and Travis Mealy answer for the Bisons.

The Dinos will take a one-week break following the weekend, but will head back out on the road before years' end, visiting the Regina Cougars to finish the fall semester. Manitoba will embark on their longest road trip once they finish with the Dinos, travelling west to Vancouver to face the UBC Thunderbirds.

-UC-