VANCOUVER – The University of Calgary Dinos went on the road, went the distance, and will return home with a first-round playoff win after clinching their best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series with a 4-2 win over UBC Sunday night.
Calgary advances to the conference semifinal round, where they will take on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in a best-of-three series in Saskatoon. That series gets underway Thursday night in what could be the final games played at historic Rutherford Rink.
After dropping the series opener 4-1 to the Thunderbirds Friday night, Calgary rebounded with a 6-3 victory in Game 2 Saturday, setting up Sunday's Game 3 showdown. In the pivotal contest, the Dinos came back from a 2-1 deficit to score three unanswered goals en route to the victory.
Riley Sheen scored the game-winner – his fourth goal of the series – off a quick feed from
Coda Gordon at the 10:50 mark of the third period, and from there Calgary hemmed the Thunderbirds in their own zone for much of the rest of the period, limiting UBC's chances to net the equalizer.
Tim Vanstone capped the win at 19:59 of the third with an empty net goal as the Dinos knocked off UBC in the first round for the second consecutive season.
The game was tight from start to finish but the Dinos struck first 7:22 into the opening frame.
Logan Fisher tipped a
Dylan Busenius shot for his first goal of the playoffs,
Chris Rauckman picked up the second assist.
But the Thunderbirds picked themselves up and were the better team in the second half of the period. The 'Birds got rewarded with five minutes remaining when Tyler Sandhu wristed the puck from the slot past Calgary goaltender Matthew Greenfield tying the game at one. Jerret Smith and Joe Carvalho got the assists.
UBC took its first lead of the game midway through the second with Sandhu's second of the contest and third of the series. Nick Buonassisi made a gorgeous backhand feed from below the goal line out to Sandhu who finished his first Canada West playoff series with a team leading four points.
Four minutes later the Dinos responded to tie the game once again on a strange deflection when a
Drydn Dow shot went off
Brayden Sherbinin at the side of the crease and past Matt Hewitt at the 14:43 mark.
Hewitt finished his final Canada West game with 28 saves as the Dinos outshot UBC 33-29. Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play as UBC finished 0-for-4 and the Dinos went 0-for-3.
Greenfield picked up both wins in the Calgary goal in the series, stopping 27 of 29 shots fired his way Sunday after a similar 27-save performance Saturday night.
As the Dinos turn their attention the short turnaround before taking on the Huskies, they will find themselves just two wins away from a trip to the conference final and would also book their ticket to the U SPORTS University Cup in Fredericton, with Canada West sending two teams to the national tournament.
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