EDMONTON – The University of Calgary Dinos were able to snap a three game losing streak Saturday night, beating the University of Alberta Golden Bears 3-0 on the road at Clare Drake Arena.

"Huge win tonight. Not only that but Manitoba won both their games this weekend so they're right behind us," said Head Coach Mark Howell. "We have to keep ourselves in a good position and keep clawing our way back into the standings. After three losses it's nice to bounce back and have a great game."

It was a historic performance for Stanford: the shutout was the first suffered by the Golden Bears at home in the regular season since Feb. 14, 1964.

Calgary was coming off a tough loss last night against the same Golden Bears but started the night strong opening the scoring 1:26 into the game. Parker Bowles stripped the puck behind the net and shovelled it to Cain Franson who roofed it on a backhand.

The Dinos struggled to get shots on net early on, but were able to get high quality scoring chances. After a misplay by a Golden Bears defenceman on the blue line gave the Dinos a 2-on-1 break, Coda Gordon undressed goalie Luke Siemens, ending his night in the process after giving up two goals on four shots.

Calgary headed into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead even though they were outshot 12-9 in the period.

Neither team found the back of the net in the second, despite having numerous scoring opportunities. 

Dinos goalie Steven Stanford came up with the first big save of the period after a loose puck hopped onto Bears forward Cole Linaker's stick in the slot, who failed to solve the Calgary keeper.

Just over a minute later it was the Dinos getting an odd man rush, with Chris Collins sliding it across to Luke Harrison who didn't get all of it letting Bears goalie Brendan Burke slide across to make the pad save.

Alberta's best chance of the period came on the power play late in the frame as defenceman Cody Fram hit the crossbar on a shot from the blue line. Despite being outshot 23-20 through two periods the Dinos found themselves up 2-0 in the scoring department.

The third period was all Bears as they desperately tried to solve Stanford, sending everything to the net in an attempt to break the shutout. They outshot Calgary 22-3 in the final frame but were unable to find the back of the net.

After the Bears pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, Elgin Pearce found the empty net from just outside the blue line with 20 seconds left to secure the win for the Dinos. 

Steven Stanford's 45 saves tonight were the fourth most saves recorded in a shutout in Canada West history. Both Bowles and Franson led the Dinos offensively recording two points each.

"We scored when we had to tonight, that was important," remarked Howell. "Steven Stanford also played really well for us. You need good goaltending to win; last night their goalie was really, really good and tonight ours was."

With the win Calgary improves to 13-8-1-0, just two points behind U of A for third place in the Canada West conference. The Dinos are on the road next weekend, playing a two game series against the University of Manitoba Bisons. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST Friday night and 1 p.m. CST Saturday afternoon. 

-UC-