Max Sturley, Dinos Communications
CALGARY – In an intense, penalty-filled contest, the University of Calgary Dinos scored three times in the final period to win 3-0 over the third-ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies Saturday evening at the Father David Bauer Arena.
Dinos goaltender Matthew Greenfield picked up his third shutout of the season after the 19-save performance, which is good for first place in that category.
"Shutouts are always nice, but the main thing is the win," said Greenfield. "We couldn't afford to get swept here at home; a win against the number one team and the way we did it just shows that we can beat anybody and dominate anybody."
Greenfield's first test came just over a minute in, as Huskies defender Sam Ruopp wired a shot from 20 feed out but couldn't beat the blocker of the Dinos' netminder.
The teams throughout the first period traded chances, including posts from Saskatchewan forward Kohl Bauml and Calgary forward Logan Fisher. Despite this, the teams remained scoreless after 20.
The second period opened up with Huskies goaltender Tarun Kozun making the best of his 26 stops. Dinos forward Luke Harrison rifled a perfect pass to a pinching James Shearer, but Kozun went cross-crease to prevent the early chance.
The Dinos and Huskies once again traded posts in the second, courtesy of Cain Franson, then Levi Cable moments later. Once again, the goaltenders stood tall keeping the games at zeroes through two periods.
The third proved to be different, as the Dinos opened up the scoring down a skater. Dane Gibson took a perfect no-look pass from forward Tim Vanstone, and picked the blocker side corner on Kozun, making it 1-0, 58 seconds into the third.
Just 66 seconds later, the Dinos doubled their cushion thanks to an ill-timed turnover by Kozun. Mitch Cook stole the Kozun clearing attempt in the slot, before dishing the puck to Logan Fisher, who wired a shot top-shelf over, giving the Dinos a 2-0 lead.
The Dinos extended their lead to three seven minutes later, courtesy of Gibson again. He finished off a tape-to-tape feed from forward Matt Alfaro, beating an out-stretched Kozun.
Following the third goal, tensions began to boil over for the Huskies and Dinos. Jaimen Yakubowski was issued a five-minute major penalty for charging Gibson, along with game misconduct. Both sides traded shoving matches and penalties until the 18:30 mark of the third, when the extra-curricular activities reached crazy heights.
By the end of a lengthy delay in an effort to sort out penalties, 30 penalty minutes in total were handed out to all eight skaters on the ice. Once the final horn sounded, Calgary and Saskatchewan combined for 85 penalty minutes, including three misconduct penalties.
"It's the heat of the moment," said Dinos defender Ryan Gagnon, who was on the ice for the final scrum. "We're both very competitive teams and we both really want to win."
The score remained at 3-0, as the Dinos grabbed a much-needed victory.
Saskatchewan will face-off with the Regina Cougars next week, while the Dinos will battle in a home-and-home with the Lethbridge Pronghorns.
-UC-