Max Sturley, Dinos Communications

CALGARY – Picking up right where they left off, the University of Alberta Golden Bears snatched up their seventh straight win, crushing the University of Calgary Dinos 8-0, Saturday night at the Father David Bauer Arena.

"The only thing that was evident this weekend was that Alberta played faster and heavier for longer periods of time," said Dinos head coach Mark Howell. "We've got to learn from it, we can't just throw it out. We have to grow and get better."

Six minutes into the contest, the Golden Bears opened the floodgates up a man. Forward Luke Philp nesting in the high slot deflected a shot-pass through Dinos netminder Matthew Greenfield, making it 1-0.

Under two minutes later, the Golden Bears doubled the lead off the luckiest of bounces. Brandon McGee off the rush took a shot that deflected twice before going off the leg of Stephane Legault to make it 2-0.

The Bears would find a third tally right at the end of a penalty kill as Lucas Nickles right out of the box had a clean break away from centre and he went upstairs on Greenfield.

Philp added a late goal, once again on the power play, as the Golden Bears led by four after the opening 20. Greenfield was pulled at the end of period after allowing 4 goals on 10 shots.

The scoring did not slow down for the visitors, as Philp completed his hat-trick midway through the second.

After a diving setup from Magee in the neutral zone, Philp took a drop pass and roofed the puck, putting the Golden Bears up by five.

Alberta's special team's dominance continued later in the period, this time coming shorthanded. Defender Ben Carroll jumped into the offensive zone and one-timed a tape-to-tape pass from Legault, once again going high over Jordan Papirny.

Near the end of the middle frame, Dinos forward Ryan Graham was denied by Alberta goalie Zach Sawchenko, who stood tall in the slot stymieing the Dinos best chance of the game. Shortly after, Taylor Cooper scored the Golden Bears seventh goal of the game to make it 7-0 after 40, as he beat Papirny on the doorstep.

Alberta added an eighth goal for good measure as defender Clayton Kirichenko rifled a wrist shot over a screened Papirny, capping off the 8-0 romp.

Special teams proved to be a big story, as the Golden Bears scored twice on the man-advantage, while going 6-for-6 on the penalty kill, including the Caroll shorthanded goal.

Sawchenko stopped all 21 shots he faced as he grabbed his eighth win and second shutout of the season.

Next week, the Golden Bears will face off against the first place Saskatchewan Huskies while the Dinos will travel to Manitoba for a two game set starting Nov. 30.

-UC-

Photo by David Moll