CALGARY – Four points separated the University of Calgary Dinos and the Mount Royal Cougars heading into their third meeting of the season, but the outcome favoured the Dinos once again, helping them extend their lead in the Canada West standings with a 3-1 road win at the Flames Community Arenas.
Mount Royal came into the game in the middle of a tough stretch, looking to bounce back after getting swept at the hands of the Alberta Golden Bears. Meanwhile, Calgary had their four-game win streak come to an end against UBC.
With the Dinos' win on Friday, they push their lead on third place to six points while extending their unbeaten run against the Cougars to four games.
It did not take long for the Dinos to get the scoring started as they jumped to an early lead just 61 seconds into the contest.
Dane Gibson had his slap shot bank off of
Bradley Schoonbaert and through Cougars goaltender Riley Morris on the first shot of the game.
Zach Henry almost responded for the home side when he was all alone against
Jordan Papirny but rang his attempt off the crossbar as the Dinos' goal was being announced.
Both Mount Royal and Calgary opened up the play in the second period but it was the Dinos who were forced to absorb the pressure throughout most of the opening half of the frame. Mount Royal poured on the pressure for a handful of shifts. Not capitalizing, the Dinos' counterattack proved deadly as Calgary doubled their lead 5:15 into the period.
After sustaining the siege and heavy press, the puck slipped past the Cougar defencemen which sprung a surprise odd-man rush. Second-year sniper
Riley Sheen was beneficiary of this for his 15th of the season, snapping a shot past a screened Morris who never saw it.
Calgary continued their theme of scoring early in the third period as their third goal came on the man advantage, just 31 seconds in, courtesy of
Chris Rauckman, who buried the puck into the net after a series of whacks.
The Dinos played a perfect road period, limiting the number of stops of play but could not hold onto their shutout bid as Brad Kennedy put the one and only point on the board for the Cougars on a man advantage that struggled to find its rhythm all game long.
The second-year forward clapped the puck into the net at 14:58 but it was the only shot that did any damage out of the measly 19 shots thrown on the Dinos' net.
Tuesday Jan. 29 is the next game for both teams who will prepare for one of the biggest events in the U SPORTS season, the Crowchild Classic game at the Scotiabank Saddledome at 6:45 p.m.
