CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's hockey team led twice but couldn't hold on, falling 3-2 to the University of Alberta Golden Bears at Father David Bauer Arena.
The Friday night loss drops the Dinos to 2-6-1, while the Golden Bears take the win to improve to 3-4-0.
"We're just up and down," said Howell on the frustrating part of the season. "We can't carry consistency. We just have to learn how hard it is to win. You have to win pucks, you have to win wall
battles and you have to win races.
"U of A responded, to give them credit. They bounced back. But we talked about it, you
have to be ready for any push."
The Dinos controlled the early play, outshooting Alberta 10-2 in a scoreless first period. Golden Bears goaltender Beckett Langkow stopped every chance, while Dinos goaltender
Carl Tetachuk turned aside the few opportunities Alberta created.
Calgary broke through less than four minutes into the second period with a two-man advantage for the first goal of the game. Defender
Remy Aquilon took the puck at the blue line right off the faceoff and slid it to
Pavel Bocharov, who walked into the slot and fired it home for his first goal of the season.
Alberta tied it just past the midway point of the period. Tetachuk came out of the crease to poke check Connor Dick, but Dick deked around him and passed the puck back to Aidyn Hutchinson who had an open net to make it 1-1.
Calgary went back in front less than seven minutes into the third period when
Connor Horning circled through centre ice, went in alone and sniped one through Langkow. The lead lasted until just past the midway point of the period, when a long shot from Pierce Yakimchuk found its way through Tetachuk on the blocker side to make it 2-2.
With less than five minutes left in regulation, it was Hutchinson who got tangled up with the Dinos' defenders behind the net before tossing the puck out front where Colin Doherty
slipped it past Tetachuk for the winner.
"Morale gets better when guys dig in," said Howell. "When they finally get angry about what's going on and they do something about it."
"Nothing fixes work ethic. You have to work. You have to compete. And when you get outworked and out-competed, it's not going to go your way."
The Dinos will return to action Saturday, Nov. 7 when they travel to Silent Ice Arena for a rematch against the Golden Bears. The game can be seen live on Canada West TV powered by BioSteel.
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