CALGARY – Four goals by second-year forward Elgin Pearce led the No. 7 University of Calgary Dinos to a gutsy 5-3 win over the No. 1 University of Alberta Golden Bears on Thursday night at the Father David Bauer Arena.

Outshot in the game 46-21, Calgary relied on their goaltender Kris Lazaruk to backstop them, while their offence was opportunistic, catching the Golden Bears flat footed for three goals in the middle frame.

While Dinos head coach Mark Howell is happy with the result, he acknowledges there is work to do to get a repeat performance tomorrow night.

"We turned over the puck too often and they pressured us hard. We backed up too much and they generated a lot of speed off the transition."

The Dinos hand the 'Bears only their second loss of the season and end their 12-game undefeated run. Alberta sits with a 13-2-0 mark now, while Calgary improves to 11-4-0.

The opening period saw Alberta establish a strong cycle game and control the majority of the play. Fortunate for the home side, Davis Vandane netted the first goal of the night as he converted off a drop pass by Chris Collins and roofed a wrist shot past Kurtis Mucha at 16:28. The goal was Vandane's third of the campaign.

Pearce propelled Calgary to a 3-0 advantage with back-to-back goals less than five minutes into the second period. Both goals were generated by hard rushes to the net, where the Port Coquitlam, BC native fished off his eighth and ninth goals of the season.

"It was a good game, my teammates really allowed me to play well individually tonight," said Pearce. "Hats off to everyone, they all had a good effort and our goaltending was great."

Alberta would respond with a pair of goals by forward Johnny Lazo for his third and fourth markers of the year. Just when the Golden Bears had cut the lead to one though, the Dinos came rushing back as they connected off the ensuing faceoff. Skating in from the left side, Collins threw the puck on net and had it sneak past Mucha and in for his sixth of the season at 14:39.

On the comeback trail, the Golden Bears struck to make it a one-goal game under three minutes into the third. Taking advantage of some miscommunication deep in the Dinos' zone, Kruis Reddick caught Lazaruk looking the other way and tucked a shot beside the left post. The goal gave Reddick his fifth of the campaign.

Alberta had a number of great chances to tie the score, but Lazaruk continued his stellar night while fighting off what looked to be a potential injury late in the third.

With the goalie pulled, Pearce capped off his incredible night as he fired an unassisted shot from the neutral zone into an empty cage to seal the deal.

The Dinos went 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Golden Bears went 1-for-5.

These two teams will take the ice tomorrow night from the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, starting at 7:00pm.