CALGARY – Nothing went right offensively for the Calgary Dinos and the Trinity Western Spartans, as a strong defensive effort from both clubs resulted in a scoreless draw on Sunday afternoon in Calgary.

BOX SCORE

Calgary couldn't muster any type of offensive rhythm, giving Spartans goaltender Andrew Fink only two shots on goal to deal with, while Trinity wouldn't fare much better with four.

One of the Spartans chances was a terrific one however, as Danfi Parker had a clear close-range look at the Dinos net late in the match. With Calgary goaltender #J.P. Crescenzi# coming out hard to play the shot, Parker could not evade the fifth-year keeper, hitting him square in the outstretched hands where the ball went wide. Cardin Davis would get a shot at the rebound but sailed it wide.

The only chances Calgary got on the afternoon were stymied by the net, as Brian Delaney barely clipped the far post early in the first half off of a long strike, while a Jeff Marsden header clanged off of the crossbar. Second year forward Izak Lawrence would get a late open-look as well, but went too high, much to his chagrin.

Trinity would get spirited play from their forwards Parker and Garrett Peters, as both of them constantly demanded Calgary attention, while the Dinos were led by Jeremy Jenkyns and Lawrence, who both had several good chances go awry from them at the wrong time.

The result of Sunday's match was bittersweet for Calgary head coach Brian McDonnell.

“On one hand, to not give up a goal to the second (UBC) and seventh (TWU) ranked teams in CIS in consecutive days is a great achievement for us,” said the first-year head coach. “However our level of play today was not good, and should have been substantially better.”

“We really feel like we could have won that game, but to take four points against two of the best teams in Canada is a very good result for us,” McDonnell concluded.

With two ties on their Alberta road swing, Trinity Western sits in fifth in Canada West at 2-1-2 and are three points out of the coveted fourth position in the conference as the season nears its mid-point. The Spartans will host the first place Alberta Golden Bears and the third place Saskatchewan Huskies in a key series next weekend.

Calgary sits tied for third with the Huskies after their four point weekend, and are 3-1-2 on the season. The Dinos will head to Lethbridge next Saturday before returning back to Calgary with the Pronghorns behind them as they finish the home-and-home series on Sunday.
-UC-