Box Score CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos completed an opening weekend sweep of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 3-0 on Saturday night in a heated affair at Father David Bauer Arena.
The Dinos’ season began last night appropriately the same say it ended last year; in overtime. Kevin King pounced on his own rebound with a minute remaining in the first extra session to give the visitors a 4-3victory. With the win tonight, Calgary improves to (2-0-0), while Lethbridge falls to (0-1-1).
Boxscore
“I thought last night we found a way to win but didn’t play our best game, we addressed that in the meeting today,” said head coach Mark Howell. “I thought tonight we were really good for two periods, in the third we were kind of coasting, some of the shenanigans got us off our game, but we win 3-0 I thought we were very good tonight.
After Dylan Tait made 39 saves on opening night, Lethbridge made a goaltending change in Calgary, giving Damien Ketlo his first CIS start.Last season Ketlo was the Lethbridge Hurricanes MVP.
The game’s first goal came on a three-on-one at the 5:36 mark. Brock Nixon threw the puck on net from the left side and had it bounce off last year’s leading scorer Taylor Stefishen. The goal was Stefishen’s first of the campaign.
After a very even first 10 minutes, Calgary was able to mount some pressure in the ladder stage of the first period, leading to them extending their lead to 2-0. Walker Wintoneak broke into the offensive zone from the right side where he walked through a Pronghorn defender before he slipped the puck past Ketlo. The first of the year for Wintoneak gave Calgary a 2-0 advantage after 20 minutes.
“I kind of got lucky going around the defenceman, banked it off the goalie and in,” explained a modest Walker Wintoneak.
In the middle frame, the Dinos were the beneficent of a wild bounce off the end glass. A shot from the point by Cory Pritz went past the net and off the glass. The rubber then came back into play where it got behind the Lethbridge netminder. The goal, which was credited to Giffen Nyren, made it a 3-0 game through two periods.
Although there were no goals scored in the final period of play, there was a lot of action between the two teams. Calgary was in front of Ketlo all night, which eventually lead to a melee in the Lethbridge zone. Numerous players were sent off, with 12 misconducts being assessed by the referee in the third, including the Dinos’ head coach.
Dustin Butler quietly picked up sixth career shutout as he weathered a third period which saw the Pronghorns post a game-high seven shots.
Calgary outshot Lethbridge 37-19. The Dinos were 1-6 on the power play, while the Pronghorns went 0-5.
“We did some things to get the people out tonight, we still would like to see some more students out, but it was nice to have people in the rink supporting our guys,” said Howell of the Saturday crowd.
The Dinos will be off next weekend, but will return to action on Oct.12-13 as they host the UBC Thunderbirds. While the 'Horns will not face conference action next weekend, they will be in action, heading to Minnesota for three games in three days versus NCAA competition. The 'Horns will face the University of Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth and Nebraska-Omaha.
