BOX SCORE CALGARY – Brett Ferguson scored the game-winning goal in the third period as a spirited effort from the No. 10-ranked University of Calgary Dinos fell short in a 2-1 setback against the No. 1 University of Alberta Golden Bears.

The loss drops Calgary's record to 14-9-0, while Alberta improves to 19-4-0 and that much closer to clinching first place in the conference.  These two clubs go at it again Saturday night, this time in Edmonton.

“I thought both teams played real hard tonight, I thought our intensity and effort was good,” discussed Calgary bench boss Mark Howell. “We had some great chances in the third, especially in the end, but they got lucky and went off a couple of shin pads.”

Coming in with a record of 12-0 when leading after one period, Alberta came out strong in the opening stanza as they tried to quiet a packed crowd at the Father David Bauer Arena. On their second power play of the first, the Golden Bears lit the lamp for the game's opening goal. Picking up the puck at the side of the goal, Levko Koper tapped the puck behind Calgary netminder Jacob DeSerres. The goal was Koper's seventh of the campaign at 13:49.

With some help from the energy lines, the Dinos got their offence going in the second period. After struggling on the attack, the line of Max Ross, Colton Grant and Blake Clement provided the spark the home side was searching for.

“I felt all our lines did a good job, they are a quick team and when we were moving the puck we generated way more chances then we had in the past,” mentioned Howell.

At 9:17 while on a man advantage, Calgary struck to knot the score at one. A number of heavy shots from Giffen Nyren and Luke Egener set the stage for Kevin King as he blasted a rocket past the blocker of Kurtis Mucha for his 10th tally of the season.

Dominating the five-on-five action through the middle frame, the Dinos had several good chances to establish their first lead of the night, but couldn`t solve the Alberta defence as the game went into the final period tied.

A lucky bounce at 4:52 gave the Golden Bears the go-ahead goal as Ferguson netted his seventh of the year. With tired bodies out for Calgary, Alberta swarmed the zone before the puck deflected off the legs of a couple of players, landing in the right spot for the second-year forward's marker.

The Dinos continued to press for a tying goal up to the final seconds, facing the tough challenge of beating the neutral zone clog staged by the Golden Bears. With DeSerres pulled for the empty net, Calgary had a couple of close calls before the final buzzer went.

Next weekend the Dinos will travel to Saskatoon for a two-game set against the Huskies from Feb. 1-2 at the Rutherford Rink, the home of last year's Canada West Finals. The Dinos next home action will take place at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Feb. 7 in the first of two games versus Mount Royal. Alberta will be back in Edmonton next week as they take on Regina on Feb. 1-2.