CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's hockey team will take on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in a doubleheader this weekend at the Father David Bauer Arena.
Puck drop will take place on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
1. LAST SEASON – The Dinos finished the 2021-22 regular season fifth in the Canada West standings with a 12-7-1 record. They knocked off Saskatchewan in the postseason before falling to eventual champion Alberta.
2. THIS SEASON – This year's Canada West coaches' poll was almost a complete mirror of how the standings shaped up last year, as the Dinos were picked to finish fifth, once again.
3. CAPTAINING THE SHIP –
Noah King will serve as team captain for the 2022-23 season, with
Connor Gutenberg,
Dakota Krebs and
Bradley Schoonbaert voted as assistants. King is a second-year defenceman who tallied 11 points (3g, 8a) last season before being named to the Canada West All-Rookie Team. Schoonbaert is the veteran of the group as the fourth year has racked up 32 career points in his first three seasons in the Scarlet & Gold, while Gutenberg and Krebs combined for seven goals and 13 assists in their rookie seasons.
4. POSTSEASON REMATCH – This weekend's showdown will be a rematch of a thrilling three-game quarter-final series in the Canada West playoffs last year. After splitting the first two games,
Tim Vanstone and
Max Patterson each found the back of the net for Calgary in the final nine minutes of game three to flip a 3-2 late deficit into a 4-3 win. The Dinos and Huskies also squared off in a preseason two-game series Sept. 23-24, with Calgary claiming both wins inside Father David Bauer Arena.
Those were just the latest chapters in the long-standing rivalry between the provincial neighbours, as the two schools have faced off against one other dating back to each program's inception. Counting just conference games, the Dinos hold a 71-61-4 record against the Huskies, including splitting last year's regular-season series.
5. COACH HOWELL –
Mark Howell enters his 14th season as head coach of the Dinos. The Red Deer native owns a 193-135 overall record in conference games to go with 26 postseason wins in that time.
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