CALGARY – It wasn't necessarily pretty, and it wasn't a true home weekend, but the Calgary Dinos took care of the Regina Cougars on Saturday, winning by a 3-1 score and clinching a playoff spot in the process, five points ahead of fifth place Lethbridge.
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“To clinch a spot with games to go yet, it's great for the program,” said Mark Howell, whose troops will make their second appearance in the Canada West postseason in as many years. “Our guys have worked hard, and have bought into the pride and the tradition that we're trying to build.
“We now have a legitimate chance at hosting in the first round,” continued Howell. “We want to be an elite program, and these are the steps you have to take to get there.”
Calgary now sits all alone in second place and controls their own destiny in terms of hosting a first round playoff series, with the result of Lethbridge and Saskatchewan once again proving fruitful for Calgary.
Lethbridge broke a late third period tie against the Huskies to eventually win 4-2, holding the once-second place Saskatchewan to no points in the standings, thus allowing the Dinos room to leap-frog past them.
The respective Calgary and Lethbridge sweeps set-up a dramatic head-to-head season finale weekend in a week's time, as Calgary will be looking to hold on to second place, where they are two points up on third place Saskatchewan. Conversely, Lethbridge will be battling for their playoff lives as they sit barely behind fourth place Manitoba.
Teegan Moore notched his fourth goal of the season late in the first period to open the game's scoring, banging home a pass from Colton Grant from behind the net of Regina goalkeeper Adam Ward. The goal came on the heels of eight shots in the first period for Calgary.
Regina played much better in the first period than their four shots would attest, missing wide and high on numerous quality opportunities. Tyler Penny would get the best chance on a power-play breakaway, but skirted it just wide of Dustin Butler.
The Cougars continued their strong pressure and got nine shots on Butler, but still could not find reward in the second period for their bounce-back effort after Friday night. Calgary on the other hand, would get two more goals, with one coming right away to open the period.
For this third marker of the season, forward Matt Isbister quickly turned around right in front of Ward only to put a wild slap on the puck, which seemingly fooled everybody as it hit the back of the net. Tyler Swystun would get the third goal of the game courtesy of hard work along the side boards only to break free for a quick wrist shot at 14:20.
Regina would not back down in the third period, keeping the Dinos on their heels seemingly the entire time, no doubt helped by six Dinos penalties in the frame, compared to zero for Regina. Ironically, the one goal that Regina could muster in the third period was on a miscue from Butler, as he let a shot off the back boards rebound in off of his leg.
Butler had 21 saves in the victory, improving to 11-7 on the year, while Ward let in three on 21 total shots.
With the loss, the Regina Cougars complete their 2010-11 season at 8-18-2 with a bye weekend next week. Calgary (16-8-2) on the other end will engage with the Lethbridge Pronghorns in the key battle for playoff positioning.
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