CALGARY – A huge weekend sweep against their biggest rival has the Calgary Dinos riding a wave of momentum at just the right time as they immerse themselves in an intense stretch of action that will have great bearing on the Canada West standings.

For the first time in 12 tries, the Dinos beat the Alberta Golden Bears in Edmonton with a 3-2 victory on Friday, before finishing the stunning weekend sweep the next evening in front of their home crowd by a score of 1-0. It was their first shutout of the Bears since 2005, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Locked in one of the tightest races for positioning in the standings in recent memory, the four points against Alberta was of vital importance for Calgary. Not only did it bring the first-place Bears closer to the pack with a bye weekend upcoming, it let the Dinos keep a grasp of second place, albeit a shared grasp with the Manitoba Bisons.

Sitting only two points back of Calgary are their upcoming weekend opponents, the Saskatchewan Huskies, who have 22 points and a game in hand on the Dinos.

Should Calgary sweep the weekend set, it would put them in a tie for first place at 28 points with Alberta, and potentially the Bisons as well if they can complete the sweep of the last place Regina Cougars. Should Saskatchewan pull off the sweep, they could move closer to first place and ultimately make the standings even more of a muddled mess.

To keep the ball rolling and get a couple of big wins against the Huskies would be very beneficial to Calgary, as it doesn't get easier the following weekend. The No. 8 Bisons will travel west to face the Dinos to open February, capping a tough six-game stretch for Calgary.

First and second place are of extra importance in the 2010-11 season, as it guarantees a hosting berth in the conference playoffs and a subsequent edge for one of the two open Canada West spots at the University Cup in New Brunswick.

Calgary and Saskatchewan split their fall-semester weekend match-up, with the Dinos taking a 4-1 victory only for the Huskies to counter with a 2-1 win in front of the Calgary faithful.

Calgary is benefitting from the production of the red-hot line of Torrie Wheat, Walker Wintoneak and Aaron Richards, who have combined for 20 points in five games. Richards was the hero on Friday against Alberta, scoring the winning goal late in the third, while Wheat scored the lone goal of the game on Saturday.

Cory Pritz is one of the highest-scoring defencemen in Canada West with 11 points, while Kodie Curran has eight points in only 10 games in his rookie year.

Perhaps the hottest individual player currently in Canada West, Kyle Bortis takes a five-game goal streak into the weekend series for Saskatchewan, during which time he has recorded eight goals and three assists. The forward is tied for the team lead with Steven DaSilva with 18 points on the season, while Kyle Ross has been a catalyst in the assist category in notching 12 helpers for the Huskies thus far.

The Dinos rely on the luxury of one of the more successful netminders in the country in Dustin Butler, who sits atop CIS with a glowing .935 save percentage to go along with a 1.92 goals-against average. Saskatchewan counters with David Reekie, who sports an 8-6 record with a 2.35 GAA and a 92 percent save clip.

Saskatchewan will travel to UBC following the weekend series with Calgary, while the Dinos return home for the two huge games against Manitoba on Feb. 4-5.

-UC-