TORONTO – For the second year in a row, the University of Calgary Dinos men's hockey team's season came to an end in a national quarter-final at the U SPORTS University Cup.

Far from your average 2-1 hockey game – an instant classic saw Carson Gallagher score the game-winning goal at 4:31 of double overtime to break a 1-1 deadlock and send his Toronto Metropolitan University Bold to the semifinal at the tournament they're hosting.

Before overtime, all the scoring in Thursday evening's contest came in the first period.

The Dinos silenced the Mattamy Athletic Centre home crowd with a goal less than five minutes in. With an early power play, Jaeger White used a screen in front by Max Patterson to get his blue line wrist shot past Bold goaltender Kai Edmonds.

TMU tied the game in the final minutes of the first period. The Bold got bodies towards the goal, which caused enough disruption for a point shot from Ryan Wells to get through Calgary netminder Carl Tetachuk.

The game remained scoreless for the next three periods – but it was not without drama.

While the Dinos outshot the Bold 51-45, the home team found a way to limit the number of dangerous opportunities Calgary could generate.

One of the best Dinos chances came late in the third period as Jake Gricius found himself with space at the hash marks to release a hard shot, but Edmonds got just enough of it to send the attempt wide.

The dogged pace of regulation continued into the extra sessions. Tetachuk turned in the first highlight reel save of overtime only minutes in as he stretched across the crease to deny Jackson Doherty.

Later in the first overtime, a Bold turnover led to a partial breakaway for Colson Gengenbach. The Second Team All-Canadian was unable to put it away as a TMU defender got back to lift his stick and Edmonds stood his ground.

As double overtime began, the Bold came out firing. 

Tetachuk made one of his best saves of the night off a point-blank attempt from Will Portokalis. Moments later though, as TMU continued to press, a wiry shot by Gallagher connected to end the quarter-final marathon match.

Starring in both creases, Edmonds finished the night with 50 saves, while Tetachuk stopped 43 chances.

TMU advances to face the undefeated top-ranked University of New Brunswick Reds on Saturday for a spot in the University Cup gold medal game.

The Dinos finish the year by graduating four players, Arjun Atwal, Brendan De Jong, Dakota Krebs, and White. The 2023-24 campaign saw Calgary win 20-plus games for the 11 time in program history and make their 14th appearance at the University Cup.

-UC-