CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos will look to rebound from last weekend's losses as they host the Saskatchewan Huskies this weekend at the Olympic Oval this weekend.

The 13-5-1 Dinos are fresh off a pair of losses to the Alberta Pandas that dropped them into the second spot in Canada West. Despite the sweep, a single point for the Dinos in the first game was enough to guarantee that both teams are post-season bound.

The 11-6-1 Huskies are in a comfortable spot in the post-season race, occupying the fourth and final playoff spot with Manitoba ahead of them by two points for the third spot in Canada West. Though the Huskies haven't technically clinched a playoff spot they are not in any real danger as their only threat, the Regina Cougars, are a full nine points behind with only six games left to play.

The last time these two teams met was a spirited duel in Saskatoon that saw the Huskies come out on top in both encounters, 3-1 and 4-3 decisions.

One key missing player in those two games was Dinos offensive leader Hayley Wickenheiser who was away with Team Canada in an international tournament. Wickenheiser is a question mark for this weekend's tilt after she was involved in a collision late in the first game against the Pandas. She did not return and didn't travel with the team to Edmonton for the game on Saturday.

The last series between Calgary and Saskatchewan was dominated by the play of Saskatchewan third year forward Breanne George, the reigning Canada West MVP. During the prior encounter with the Dinos, George scored four goals and notched two assists including a hat trick in the first game.

George is always a threat and has proven that fact with her 14 goal, 15 assist performance so far this season. The only Huskie to outscore her is fellow third year Cara Wooster, who currently sits second on the Canada West leader-board for points with 13 goals and 17 assists.

The Dinos' offensive counter will include the hot hand of third year forward Elana Lovell who has averaged a point per game with 10 goals and 10 assists so far this campaign. Following her lead is the rookie pair of Erika Mitschke and Jenna Smith, with both players having contributed three goals and two assists over the last five games. Fellow rookie Kira Sonnenbeg has put up three goals and an assist.

This weekend will also see a passing of the torch in the form of the final regular season home games for four of the Dinos players. This passing of the torch began in a gradual fashion this season with fifth year Dino Cait O'Hara sharing the captain's 'C' with Casey Irving. O'Hara has been the captain, or co-captain, of the Dinos since Danielle Goyette took over as head coach in 2007 and has led the team to both an ACAC final in 2008 and the ACAC championship in 2009.

The other two players who will be potentially playing their last game at the Oval this weekend are Beccy Niehaus and Shannon Davidson, two key parts of the Dinos' leadership team. Niehaus has shared the role of team captain with O'Hara for much of the team's success in the ACAC and continued in the role of assistant captain until early this season when the transition began to the next leadership group. Shannon Davidson is another part of the Dinos offence that will be missed. Her role as an assistant captain came to her more recently after being an important part of the Dinos offensive throughout the time Goyette has been head coach.

The final player who will be playing her last home game for the Dinos is defenceman Nicole Kuglin, originally from Swift Current, Sask. Kuglin has been a stalwart on the Calgary blue line, missing just two games in the past four years. With four games to play in the 2010-11 season, she has recorded four goals and 13 assists over her career.

The final regular season home games of the year for the Dinos will face off at 7:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday nights. Next week the Dinos finish off the regular season with a trip to Winnipeg to take on the Manitoba Bisons on Feb. 4-5. Calgary has a bye the following week, when the Dinos will keep a close eye on the scoreboard as that weekend's action will determine the final standings.

Should the Dinos finish in the top two in the conference standings, they would host a best-of-three Canada West semi-final series Feb. 18-20 at the Olympic Oval. The two semi-final winners will meet for the conference title, and both earn spots at the CIS championship in Kitchener, Ont.

-UC-