EDMONTON - In an ultra competitive and physical season opener, the Alberta Golden Bears and Calgary Dinos scratched out a 1-1 draw on Saturday afternoon at Foote Field. 

The teams, who were ranked third and sixth in the pre-season coaches poll, combined for 23 shots, 21 fouls, seven yellow cards, and one red card. Derek Brust scored the Dinos opening tally in the 42nd minute, with Bears rookie Habib Assem scoring his first career goal in the 72nd.

Alberta opened the match as the stronger side, forcing Dinos All-Canadian keeper Jake Ruschkowski to come up with a handful of outstanding saves. Ruschkowski robbed both Armaar Nijjar and Rilind Idrizi moments apart, with his pair of diving stops keeping the game scoreless. 

Veteran Bear David Chung ripped a shot from distance off the crossbar moments later, capping off a flurry of offensive chances. 

Countering minutes later, Brust opened the scoring for Calgary, heading in a pass from Jeff Spolnik, with the visitors taking a 1-0 lead into the half. 

Looking for an offensive spark, the Bears made three forward subs early in the second half. The move backfired, however, with Garry Onyejelem given a red card for a dangerous tackle just three minutes after subbing into the match. 

Down a man, the Bears pressed the Dinos for the equalizer, firing seven shots on goal in the second half. Their aggresive play paid off in the 72nd, as a turnover created by Jake Bosch ended up on the foot of Assem, who fired a low shot that beat a diving Ruschkowski. 

The Dinos pressed with the man advantage over the final 15 minutes, but were unable to beat Alberta keeper Liam Collens, who finished the match with four saves. 

Alberta will host Mount Royal tomorrow afternoon, while the Dinos will stay in Edmonton and visit the MacEwan Griffins. 

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