EDMONTON – A four-goal second period by the No. 2 Alberta Golden Bears propelled them to a 6-1 win over the No. 5 ranked Calgary Dinos, Saturday night at Clare Drake Arena.
The win for Alberta is their fifth-straight, and sees their record improve to 9-1-0 in conference play. Calgary's loss drops them down to 6-3-1, and into third in the Canada West.
Dallas Hines scored the lone Calgary goal, while Matthew Greenfield suffered his first loss after allowing five of the Bears six goals on 20 shots.
Brodan Salmond was strong in relief, allowing just one goal on 16 shots over 23 minutes.
Chad Butcher followed up his Bears debut with another strong performance on Saturday, adding one goal and one assist. Curtis Miske, Clayton Kirichenko and Noah Philp also scored for Alberta. Matt Berlin stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced to earn his fourth win of the season.
Both rivals opened the first period playing heavy hockey, showing off some physicality and strong defensive play. Neither team was able to penetrate the opposing defence, until Kirichenko's innocent looking point shot beat a screened Greenfield.
Berlin stopped all seven shots he faced in the first, including robbing
TJ Brown with no time left with a tremendous glove save.
The Bears opened up flood gates in the second, scoring four goals on just 12 shots. Miske opened the scoring with his first of the season on the power play, before Butcher added to the Bears lead, scoring two seconds after a separate power play had concluded.
Grayson Pawlenchuk added his team-leading sixth of the season with five minutes left in the frame, beating Greenfield off a beautiful pass from Butcher. Philp added insult to injury with a short-handed goal in the final four minutes of the second, which ended Greenfield's night.
Calgary's lone bright spot came early in the third, when Hines snuck a shot through Berlin on the PP.
Pawlenchuk sealed the win with his seventh midway through the third.
Alberta will put their win streak on the line against Regina next weekend, when they host the 2-7-1 Cougars at Clare Drake Arena.
Calgary, meanwhile, will battle the Mount Royal Cougars in a home-and-home series starting on Thursday.
