CALGARY – For the 27th time in history, the University of Calgary Dinos will face the University of Alberta Golden Bears in a playoff series this weekend as the best-of-three Canada West semifinal faces off at Clare Drake Arena.

The puck drops at 7 p.m. Friday night for Game 1, with Game 2 following at 6 p.m. Saturday. If necessary, Game 3 will be played Sunday night, also at 6 p.m. All games will be broadcast live on CanadaWest.tv.

The winner of the series advances to play the winner between top-seeded Saskatchewan and Mount Royal in the Canada West final, and will also earn one of the conference's two berths to the U SPORTS University Cup next month in Fredericton, N.B.

Dinos vs. Bears is the most common playoff series in the conference's history dating back to 1966. This weekend will mark the sixth time in eight seasons that the provincial rivals square off in the postseason, and the Golden Bears hold the distinct advantage: in addition to winning all five series over that span, Alberta has won 14 consecutive playoff series against the Dinos, dating back to the 1996-97 series. And the last 13 of those have been at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.

Will this be the year the Dinos finally slay the playoff dragon? Calgary certainly has momentum heading into the weekend, coming off a sweep of UBC in the first round last week, including an epic 5-4 win in triple overtime in Game 1.

"Our guys keep finding ways to win, even when we're getting down or tight in a game," explained Head Coach Mark Howell. "Everybody has stepped up at certain times – our goalies have been great, Drydn Dow has really played well, and [Elgin] Pearce too – I like our resolve and ability to stick to it."

The Dinos head to Edmonton riding a seven-game win streak and with victories in eight of their last nine contests, a string that began with a 3-0 shutout of the Golden Bears at Clare Drake – the first time Alberta had been shut out at home in the regular season since February 1964, several months before the Dinos took the ice for the first time. Calgary dropped its next game at Manitoba, earned a split in Winnipeg, then swept Mount Royal and Regina to close out the regular season.

The Bears finished just one point ahead of the Dinos in the standings this season, and the teams split the season series with Calgary earning five of a possible eight points out of those four games. But as Howell well knows, the playoffs are a different beast, and Alberta is a tough out in their own building.

"They have a tendency to play at a real high level in Game 1, and then we figure it out in Game 2 – but by then it's too late," explained the ninth-year bench boss, who played for the Golden Bears in the early 1990s. "We need to play on our toes, be the aggressive team, and go out there to ruffle feathers rather than just wait and defend. We need to be ready to play at a high pace, compete hard, be physical, and take the game to them."

Calgary's Elgin Pearce led the conference with 20 goals, eight of which came in the final four games of the season. But the supporting cast showed up last week against UBC as well: the 10 goals the Dinos scored over two games came off the stick of nine different players, with only Danny Gayle turning on the red light twice.

If the Dinos can maintain that balanced offensive attack and play the aggressive style Howell mentioned, they might just find a way to come out on top in this series.

"Our guys believe they can win," Howell said. "Special teams and goaltending will be the biggest factors in the series – if we can stay out of the penalty box and play a high-tempo game, we'll give ourselves a chance."

-UC-