Box Score Lethbridge – With the conference season winding down and points at a premium, the Alberta Golden Bears and Lethbridge Pronghorns battled to a scoreless draw
 
Heading into today’s action the ‘Horns were one point behind the Saskatchewan Huskies for the final playoff spot in the division, while the Golden Bears sat atop the Prairie Division standings but only lead the Calgary Dinos by four points. The first place finisher in the Prairie Division earns the right to host the Canada West Championship tournament.
 
Both teams opened the game very conservatively, but after the initial nervousness, the half played out in a tale of two sections. For 20 minutes, the ‘Horns dictated the play with a strong possession game leading to a pair of quality scoring chances. For the final 20 minutes the Bears upped the intensity and began to take over the game leading into the half time whistle of a scoreless half. Both teams registered three shots on goal in the half.
 
The ‘Horns best chance came off the foot of senior Lucas Rajcic was sent in on a partial break by Dominique Point du Jour, but a great sliding save by Bear’s keeper Brad Hughes kept the game scoreless.
 
As the Bears were swarming and the ‘Horns defense was bending but not breaking, the Bears’ best chance of the half came off a corner kick. A deflection off the corner was sliding to the open side of the net but ‘Horns Guy Costa got in the way of the ball and directed it out of play.
 
Equally as conservative in the final 45 minutes of play, neither team wanted to make the mistake to cause the deciding goal, and very few quality chances went either way. The ‘Horns forced Hughes to make six saves in the half but were only dangerous on a couple of occasions.
 
A cross from Morgan Brownjohn perfectly found Shlomo Swan-Azzman but his header was stopped by Hughes.
 
With only six minutes remaining, the Bears came dangerously close to getting the deciding goal. Tyler Boast made a huge diving save off a header by Moe Teliani to keep the game scoreless.
 
Boast finished the day with eight saves and earned his conference leading sixth clean sheet. Hughes, in his first start of the season made nine saves to earn the shutout.
 
With the tie, the ‘Horns wrap up the home portion of their schedule, moving to 4-4-5 and were undefeated on their home field this season with a 2-0-5 record. The Bears move to 7-2-4.
 
The results from today’s Prairie Division action set up an exciting final weekend of conference play. The ‘Horns who trail the Saskatchewan Huskies by one point for the final playoff spot, travel to Saskatoon to face the Huskies in a pair of games and control their own fate if they want to qualify for the post-season. In a battle of Alberta, the Golden Bears host the Calgary Dinos, who trail the Bears by four points for that coveted first place position and host of the Canada West Championships