CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's hockey team completed a weekend sweep of the Trinity Western Spartans with a 5-1 win on Saturday night at Father David Bauer Arena.

Calgary forward Jake Gricius led the team with two goals, including his first of the season, and finished the game with a short-handed empty net goal.

The win had additional significance as the Dinos hosted their annual parents' weekend.

"For us to get a win in front of all the parents, it feels really good," Gricius said. "It was a great play by Connor Gutenberg to get it up to me. At this point, I'm just glad it went in to get that first one under my belt."

The first period was off to a slow start for both teams, with a handful of penalties dished out but none that were capitalized on. Spartans' goaltender Leon Sommer faced 15 of his 18 first-period shots on net when Dinos Zach Wytinck put one through, off a beautiful dish from Colson Gengenbach, late in the period to give the home team a 1-0 lead.

The second period started much like the first, totalling 10 minutes in penalties between both teams without any scoring action. There were a few good chances for the Spartans on their power plays, but they could not find the space behind Dinos netminder Connor Martin, who was making his Canada West debut. With just 15 seconds left in the second period, Gricius took a shot and found the back of the net, notching his first goal of the season and giving the Dinos their insurance goal going into the third period.

The Dinos brought that momentum into the third period, where Carter Massier scored mid-way through the frame, tallying his first of the season as well. Just over a minute later, the Dinos went on the penalty kill while the Spartans emptied their net, giving them a six-on-four power play. Although they had the numbers, it proved to be ineffective as Dylan Sydor gained possession of the puck and fired it into the empty net to extend the lead. Still on the power play, Luke Spadafora responded for the Spartans and ended Martin's shutout bid. 

With a few extra penalties taken nearing the end of the third and another empty net, the Spartans were yet again on a six-on-four advantage, leading a rush into the Dinos defensive zone. The puck bounced loose past the blue line after a scramble in the corner, where Jadon Joseph found Gricius, leading to the final tally of another short-handed empty net goal for the Dinos, finalizing a 5-1 win in the last minute of play. 

"We played better tonight, more like us and our standard; we checked better and didn't give them as much. In the third we got a little bit loose; it looked like we got a little frustrated we weren't scoring but stayed with it enough to get the win," said Dinos bench boss Mark Howell. "A little better focus today, our details were sharper, our effort all around was better. The penalties keep putting us in a hole and losing momentum, penalties we don't have to take. A lot of it's just lazy stick stuff, and we have to be smarter about that."

The Dinos will now have a week to reset with a bye before their next set of games on Nov. 8-9 versus the Regina Cougars.

"We've got a couple of injuries right now, so the focus with our bye week is to get healthy. We'll get a couple of guys back, refresh, restart, and get ready for Regina," explained Gricius.

Added Howell, "The time off is good; it gives us some extra time to get some guys healed up and hopefully back in the lineup. It also gives us time to work on some things. Our power play needs to start scoring, so we'll spend a lot of time on that."

The Spartans will return home to play Regina on Nov. 1 with a 7:15 pm puck drop.

-UC-