CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos held off the No. 8 University of Alberta Golden Bears to claim their first home victory of the season by a 2-1 score Saturday night at Father David Bauer Arena.

BOX SCORE

Coming into tonight's game, the Dinos were in desperate need of a goal to end their scoreless streak at home to begin the year. In their first two home games of the season, they were shut out by Manitoba netminder Joe Caligiuri.

The Dinos' Tyler Fiddler had the best chance to open the scoring early as he stormed out on a breakaway mid-way through the first period. Fiddler came in alone aiming low blocker side, but was denied by Kurtis Mucha.

It appeared goals were going to be hard to come by in this game early as neither team was able to get shots on net past the solid blocking by both defences. Things changed half way through the third period as the match opened up.

Calgary finally got the monkey off their back at 5:55 of the third period when Brock Nixon redirected Brett Bartman's blast from the blue line past Mucha from his position in front of the net.

The Golden Bears pressed the Dinos after allowing the game's first goal and would get one of their own at the 13:37 mark. Ian Barteaux set up second-year forward Matt Meropoulis for his first CIS goal to tie the game for Alberta.

With the game slowing down and a second straight overtime looming, Calgary struck again. Walker Wintoneak snuck in between the two Alberta defenders where he wristed a shot over Mucha. The goal was Wintoneak's second of the campaign and put the Dinos up 2-1.

Alberta pulled their goalie in the final minute, but was unable to beat Dustin Butler despite numerous in-tight shots.

“This is a big game for us,” said head coach Mark Howell after the game. “Falling to 1-5 on the year wasn't an option and neither was 2-4, so we needed these games.”

Despite the continued emergences of young players in the Calgary line-up, Saturday night was about the veterans as players like Butler and Nixon stepped up for their team.

“It's a huge win, this whole weekend has been big getting two wins against Alberta,” stated Howell. “Some of the new players like Teigan Zahn have played great, but I think veterans like Nixon did great tonight.”

Calgary and Alberta both ended the game with 19 shots on goal; the Dinos were 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Golden Bears didn't score on any of their four opportunities.

Next weekend Calgary plays a home-and-home set against the Univeristy of Lethbridge Pronghorns on Oct. 28-29. The first game will be played at Father David Bauer and will shift the following night to Lethbridge. The Golden Bears return to Edmonton for games Oct. 28-29 when they take on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

-UC-