CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's hockey team scored four consecutive goals in a 4-1 victory over the Manitoba Bisons Friday night from Father David Bauer Arena, snapping a six-game losing streak to kick off their final regular season weekend.

"Losing six, I think all the guys were gripping their sticks a little bit in the first period," said Dinos head coach Mark Howell. "This time of year, it's hard to win and you have to do a lot of good things and over time we got better and better.

"When we just work hard to move the puck and possess it longer – rather than just trying to throw it away – we're better. So parts of the second we were good with it and the start of the third we were better with it."

Hayden Pakkala scored the game-winning goal with just two and a half minutes remaining in the third period to give the Dinos the advantage before being followed up by two empty net goals.

"Leezer (Brendan Lee) and Schmidty (Gavin Schmidt) made a good play there, and I was just kind of open on the far side," said Pakkala. "Schmidty made a nice pass and I just found a hole.

"It was big time for a goal there and then we just worked hard for the rest and got a couple more in the empty net. It was just a big win for everybody."

The night started off slow, with both ends seeing action but nothing coming of it. A few penalties from the home side gave the Bisons a bit of an edge, but they couldn't capitalize on their chances with Dinos goaltender Carl Tetachuk standing tall in net.

The second period was when the scoring started. With a penalty given to the visitors, the home team took to the power play, but it was the Bisons penalty kill that made a mark. A stretch pass up the left side of the ice from Evan Toth found its way to Jackson Arpin who entered the Dinos' zone. A quick snipe into the top right corner that rang off the post and past Tetachuk's right shoulder made it 1-0, notching what would go to be their only goal of the evening.

Just 36 seconds later, the Dinos tied the game on the power play. After Dinos captain Adam Kydd took a shot that bounced off Manitoba goaltender Braden Holt's blocker, it was 
Mack Stewart who took a mid-air swing to push the puck past the goal line, ultimately being ruled a good goal to make it 1-1. 

A push in the third period would go to prove the difference for the home team. Pakkala's game-winner came at 17:27 from a give-and-go between Lee and Schmidt, before being fired past Holt.

With just minutes remaining, the Bisons opened their net in an attempt to tie the game, but it was Kydd who logged the first empty net goal, followed by Riley Gannon who marked his first Canada West goal in his Dinos debut to close out the 4-1 win.

Calgary improves to 18-8-1 on the season with the win, while Manitoba drops to 12-13-2. With results elsewhere, the Dinos are locked into the No. 3 seed in the East Division with one game to go, meaning they will hit the road for a Canada West quarterfinal matchup next weekend.

The two teams will close out the regular season Saturday afternoon with a 3 p.m. puck drop for the final game of the regular season, where the Dinos will celebrate their graduating seniors prior to the game.

"It was good to just get our feet under us again and just get back on track here," Pakkala said. "Tomorrow, we need a good start and then a full 60. I think we kind of tapered a little bit tonight for a couple of minutes and they got some chances, so if we just clean that up we'll be good tomorrow."

Added Howell,
"We have to continue to build going into the playoffs and tomorrow we can't have a slow start again. If you have a slow start in the playoffs, you're going to get beat and you just don't have that timeline. When we're physical and we're fast, we play better; when we play kind of a skilled mindset, we're not very good, so we have to play faster."

-UC-