2012-13 Manitoba Bisons/CIS Thread

EARLY JUMP PACES MONKEYS TO A WIN


ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 4
TEAM CANADA 1

Links:
|> [Hockey Canada Summary and CP Story]
|> [CP Story at TSN] : [TSN: Cuts Story]
|> [Sportsnet Game Story] : [Sportsnet: 5 Players Cut]
|> [Video: CAN 1, UAB 4] : [Video: Canada/U of Alberta Extended Highlights]
|> [Video: Closer to the Team?] : [Video: Reason for Concern?]

The Evil Monkeys got the jump on the Diaper Brigade and then rode a 3-0 lead to a comfy victory. I was able to see most of the 1st period on-line, and then the end of the 3rd period as well. The afternoon games are a pain, but apparently the TC management are trying to acclimatize the team on a gradual basis. By Dec. 26th they have to be ready to play at the equivalent of 3:30 am CST.

There are lots of links up as I post, and there are bound to be more by daybreak. The one painful thing is how the sports media seem unable to describe teams from the CIS. I appreciate that it is hard to name some past combined squads, but this was the U of A. How hard should that be to describe?

Torrie Dyck scored twice for the Primates, with singles coming from Johnny Lazo and Kruise "Pokey" Reddick.

Team Canada will face a Dino-laden melange on Thursday afternoon, also available on-line at Fast Hockey.

Here are the other recent Team Canada v Canada West results:
Dec. 14, 2004 Manitoba Bisons 4, Team Canada 2*
Dec. 15, 2004 Team Canada 6, Manitoba Bisons 3
Dec, 15, 2006 Calgary/Lethbridge 5, Team Canada 4 STORY
Dec. 15, 2009 Sask./Regina 4, Team Canada 2 STORY
Dec. 17, 2011 Team Canada 7, Calgary/Lethbridge 4 STORY

TEAM CANADA RALLIES FOR A SPLIT


UCULMRU 0
TEAM CANADA 2

Links:
|> [Hockey Canada Summary and CP Story] : [Multi-Media Page]
|> [CP Story at TSN] : [TSN: Cuts Story]
|> [Sportsnet Game Story] : [Sportsnet: 8 Players Cut]
|> [Video: CAN 2, UCULMRU 0]
|> [Video: Canada/UCULMRU Extended Highlights]
|> [U of C Game Story] : [Wednesday U of A Game Story]

The name "CIS All-Stars" seems inappropriate for a somewhat rag-tag collection, so I combined U of C, U of L, and MRU, got rid of the "ofs" and there you have it, UCULMRU.

The game was played at the Markin MacPhail Centre in the Town of Bedrock. The facility is part of the Canada Olympic Park and is Olympic-sized. It seems like a great facility but is not home to the Dinos, the New Kittens on the Block, and lacks sufficient seating for the Hitmen.

I never got a chance to watch much of this one. What I did see was fairly uneventful. Team Canada did all their scoring in the 1st period, where they outshot UCULMRU 14-5. There were precious few scoring chances in the last two periods, where the shots were 18-17 for TC.

The UCULMRU line-up appeared to be short-staffed. I counted only 17 skaters from the listing at Fast Hockey. Once the game ended, so too did any links with the team roster.


UCULMRU wore white.


Markin MacPhail Centre

December 28, 2012

The Bisons have no holiday games this year, and in fact UBC are the only team in Canada West to hit the ice. They aren't even having the usual SAIT tournament out in Calgary.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD


MCGILL REDMEN 2
LAKEHEAD THUNDERWOLVES 3

Links:
|> [LS Summary]
|> [L.U. Game Story] : [Thunderwolves Release Frazee]

This was a fairly close game throughout. The Thundermutts took 1-0 and 2-1 leads, only to see the McGilligutties tie it up both times.

After McGill's mediocre first half they will want to regroup and make a second half charge. While this sounds like it was a decent match, McGill was still outshot and only could eke out 5 shots in the 3rd period.

Lakehead has to be heartened by their first half. But what turmoil! First, the players mutiny to get their coach fired. And then the team dumps Thomas Frazee after the first half. He came to them last Christmas after having played pro in the ECHL.


ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS 2
UBC THUNDERBIRDS 8

Links:
|> [BCIHL Results - links to summaries] : [UBC Twitter]
|> [UBC Mid-Season Report] : [ASU Site]

I got the score of UBC's Twitter, which had no links to summaries etc. Check the SFU and Event links and summaries and stories may yet be posted for both games.

The Sun Devils are in the ACHA Division 1, where they are the top ranked team in the nation (20-2-0). Before you get too impressed, the ACHA is for non-varsity club teams. Iowa State came to play the Bisons a few years back and they looked completely out-classed. I actually feared for the safety of some of their players.

ASU did split a pair of games against Penn State, a new NCAA team. After this weekend they have 12 straight home games. Their next road games are February 14th to 16th when they travel to North Dakota to face Williston State and Minot State.

I linked to UBC's mid-term report. They say their 1st half pace has them on pace to their best record in 22 years. And they're 4th.


OKLAHOMA SOONERS 0
SIMON FRASER CLAN 4

Links:
|> [BCIHL Results - links to summaries] : [SFU Twitter]
|> [SFU Site] : [Great Northwest Showcase Site] : [OU Site]

When I first heard about this I believe they said it was Oklahoma State coming to this event, but in fact it is Good Ol' JR's favourite team. They are ranked #6 in the ACHA Division 1. They were to have played NCAA Div 1 Rutgers earlier, but Hurricane Sandy scuttled that game. They have two games each against two other Div 1 teams, Alabama-Huntsville and Penn State.

All I have in this is the SFU Twitter score. They also said the shots were 50-39.

UP NEXT:

Non-conference Games:

Saturday, December 29
Toronto at Acadia
Moncton vs UPEI (at Tignish, PEI)
Queen’s vs Carleton (at Kemptville, Ont.)
McGill at Lakehead
UBC vs Oklahoma State (at SFU)
Arizona State at Simon Fraser

Sunday, December 30
Team Russia vs New Brunswick (at Saint John, NB)
Toronto vs Saint Mary’s (at Truro, NS)
Guelph at York
Windsor at Western Ontario

Monday, December 31
Team Russia at New Brunswick

I see that this site is contemplating shutting down. As a result, I was going to discontinue posting my Bison/CIS updates here. However, this thread has over 2,000 views this season. So people must be reading it. I shall post so long as people are reading.

December 29, 2012

The Saturday night exhibition schedule was quite active with inter-conference play. Here's what happened.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD


MCGILL REDMEN 4
LAKEHEAD THUNDERWOLVES 5

Links:
|> [LS Summary]
|> [L.U. Game Story]

If you are looking for a sign that this may not be McGill's year, just look at the box score for Saturday night's game in T-Bay. After taking a 4-2 lead in the 3rd period, they surrendered not one but TWO shorthanded goals (the second on a penalty shot!) before giving up a power play goal to lose. Ay carumba.


OKLAHOMA SOONERS 3
UBC THUNDERBIRDS 4
(in overtime)

Links:
|> [BCIHL Results - links to summaries] : [UBC Twitter]
|> [UBC Mid-Season Report] : [OU Site]

All I could find on this was the score from UBC's Twitter and in a margin note on their website. Here's the whole report:

[UBC] beats Oklahoma 4-3 in overtime at the Great Northwest Showcase. UBC outshot the Sooners 51-23. Joe Antilla scored the OT winner.

Not sure what UBC picked up from these games, but there you have it.


ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS 5
SIMON FRASER CLAN 3

Links:
|> [BCIHL Results - links to summaries] : [SFU Twitter]
|> [SFU Site] : [Great Northwest Showcase Site] : [ASU Site]

After putting so much into this event you would think that SFU would have a link the stories and summaries, even if it was for their own games at least. But noooooooooooooooo! All there is consists of a few tweets.


TORONTO VARSITY BLUES 2
ACADIA AXEMEN 4

Links:
|> [AUS Boxscore]
|> [Acadia Game Story]

That Acadia would win this game is not a surprise. That Toronto actually outshot Acadia, is one. The two sides also amassed 70 minutes in penalties in the 3rd period. At least one can acknowledge that these teams have regular season intensity ready to go.


MONCTON BLUE EAGLES -
UPEI PANTHERS -

Links:
|> [UPEI Schedule/Results Page]

I could not find a result for this anywhere. The AUS site ticker only included Acadia's game. UPEI's Twitter and website have nothing.


QUEEN'S GOLDEN GAELS 1
CARLETON RAVENS 5

Links:
|> [Carleton Game Story]

This was a neutral site game held in Kemptville, Ont. as a fundraiser for youth hockey. Cartoon U racked up a solid win, consistent with their first half performance.


AUGUSTANA VIKINGS 6
WILLISTON TETONS 1

I have no links for this one, just the score being listed on the ACAC site.

UP NEXT:

Non-conference Games:

Sunday, December 30
Team Russia vs New Brunswick (at Saint John, NB)
Toronto vs Saint Mary’s (at Truro, NS)
Guelph at York
Windsor at Western Ontario

Monday, December 31
Team Russia at New Brunswick

December 30, 2012

Well, we have updates from Saturday and the CIS Site has restarted their daily updates. And the CW has their new weekly media update in pdf format. These links disappear each week so if you want to save a copy for a mid-season review, do it now.

Links:
|> [CIS Saturday Update]
|> [CIS Sunday Update]
|> [CW Week #10 Media Notes - pdf]

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD


RUSSIAN MHL RED STARS 2
NEW BRUNSWICK VARSITY REDS 7

Links:
|> [UNB Game Story with Summary]

This Red Stars team is hard to gauge. The MHL is a junior league with teams in Russia and other east European countries. They have taken past tours to the States and their results are all over the map. On this tour their prior results are:
11-2 win over Atlantic Junior League All-Stars
6-2 win over Army Black Knights
10-2 loss to Yale Bulldogs

Sunday's game was in St. John and Monday's rematch will be in Fredericton. Of note, there was a huge blizzard out east. It was fortunate that the teams made it to the game. Phil Esposito was there as a special guest as the 1972 series was commemorated.


GUELPH GRYPHONS 3
YORK LIONS 1

Links:
|> [Guelph Game Story]

York's slippage continued to at least the non-conference games.


WINDSOR LANCERS 3
WESTERN ONTARIO MUSTANGS 4
(in shoot-out)

Links:
|> [UWO Game Story]

These two teams seem destined to fight for first in the OUAW. Of course, Lakehead would have something to say for that.


TORONTO VARSITY BLUES -
SAINT MARY'S HUSKIES -

This game was postponed to Monday due to the Atlantic snow storm.


MONCTON BLUE EAGLES 5
UPEI PANTHERS 4
(in shoot-out)

Links:
|> [UPEI Schedule/Results Page]

This game was in fact played as scheduled on Saturday but not reported until Sunday.


AUGUSTANA VIKINGS 2
ROSETOWN REDWINGS 7

Once again, I have no links for this one. The score was listed on the ACAC site. Rosetown is a AAA Senior team who who hosted Augustana and Williston. They lost to Southeast Prairie Thunder in last year's Allan Cup final.

UP NEXT:

Non-conference Games:

Monday, December 31
Team Russia at New Brunswick
Toronto vs Saint Mary’s (at Truro, NS)

December 31, 2012

The Christmas break exhibition season wrapped up tonight with a pair of games in the Maritimes. The resumption of the regular season is only 3 days away.

Links:
|> [CIS Monday Update - not uploaded as I post]

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD


RUSSIAN MHL RED STARS 2
NEW BRUNSWICK VARSITY REDS 5

Links:
|> [UNB Schedule/Results Page]

There are no links as I post, so all I know is the score. The Squirrels take the series 2-0 and the Russkies fall to 2-3 on the tour, with one game left against Brown.


TORONTO VARSITY BLUES 4
SAINT MARY'S HUSKIES 5

Links:
|> [SMU Schedule/Results Page]

This was the game postponed from Sunday. All that is uploaded as I post is the score. Toronto goes 0-2 in their mini-tour.

UP NEXT:

Thursday, January 3
Waterloo at Laurier

Friday, January 4
Manitoba at Saskatchewan : [CanadaWest.tv]
Lethbridge at Regina
Calgary at UBC
Alberta at NAIT [non-conference]
Acadia at New Brunswick
St. Thomas at Saint Mary’s
Moncton at St. Francis Xavier
Dalhousie at UPEI
Carleton at McGill
Ryerson at Nipissing
Queen’s at RMC
Western Ontario at Brock
Windsor at UOIT
York at Waterloo
Guelph at Lakehead

WEEKEND PREVIEW


MANITOBA BISONS (9-4-3, 12-6-3-1, OHT35 #9)
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES (13-3-0, 15-4-1, OHT35 #3)

Friday, January 4th, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Saskatoon
Saturday, January 5th, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Saskatoon

Live Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video Both Nights - CanadaWest.tv]

Manitoba Links:
|> [U of M Site - check for preview story]
|> [LS Roster] : [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]

Saskatchewan Links:
|> [Sask. Site (New Link)]
|> [LS Roster] : [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]

Prior Games:
|> [Oct 12: Manitoba 3-1] : [Oct 13: Sask 2-1]

Other Links:
|> [CIS Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links]
|> [CW Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links] : [Standings]
|> [LeagueStat Daily] : [CW Weekly Media Notes #10]
|> [Every Link Re: CIS Hockey]
|> [Brody Melnychuk Career Stats]

So the break is over and time to get back to the grind. The CW has by coincidence three close match-ups, and the primary one is between the Bisons and Banjo-Mutts. The #2 and #3 teams in the CW and #3 and #9 teams in the CIS.

Of note, the Bison roster page, on both their site and LeagueStat, has verified the addition of defenceman Brody Melnychuk. He is a grad of the Brandon Wheat Kings. They now have 16 forwards, 9 defencemen, and 3 goaltenders on the roster. Hopefully there will be a preview story at GoBisons.ca on Thursday or Friday which deals with this acquisition.

The end of the season comes quickly and suddenly. Christmas just ended and now we are in the final drive to the playoffs. After this weekend, both sides will have only 10 games remaining. So this trip to that 70's town is of major importance to the Bisons. The Herd trail the Bumpkins by 5 points. IMO the Bisons need to win the weekend series by a minimum margin of 4-1 if they want to make a charge for 2nd place.

When these teams met in Friendly Manitoba the Bisons were able to shut down the Hillbillies. But nobody else has. The Moonshiners are 2nd to Alberta in goals scored. Both games can be seen on-line at CanadaWest.tv.

ELSEWHERE:


LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS (1-13-2, 3-18-2, OHT35 #35)
REGINA COUGARS (7-7-2, 8-13-2, OHT35 #20)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [no live audio or video]
|> [U of R Preview Story - reposted at CW Site]
|> [U of L Preview Story]

Both of these teams have released preview stories right on time. From Regina:

Second-year forward Tyler Henry continues to lead the Cougars in both goals ( and points (13), while Matt Strueby is tied for the team lead with seven assists and ranks second on the squad with 12 points. Troy Hunter has 11 points in 11 games this season, but missed the final five games of the first half of the schedule due to an injury suffered against Alberta back on Nov. 16.

John Sonntag leads Regina's blueline corps with five points on the season, while Mark Schneider and rookie defenceman Ryan Dech have both chipped in with four points apiece. Andrew Hayes and Lucas Gore have split the netminding duties equally, as both goalies have started eight games so far. Hayes is 4-4 with two shutouts and a .909 save percentage, while Gore's top outing of the season came after stopping 28 shots in a 2-1 win over Mount Royal. ...

The Cougars come into the weekend series with an all-time record of 60-43-7 against Lethbridge and have won four of the last five meetings with the Pronghorns. ...

And from Lethbridge:

It has been a struggle at both ends of the rink for the ‘Horns through the first 16 games. The ‘Horns rank last in both goals for and goals against, scoring only 32 times, while allowing 82 goals against. While it has been a trying first half of the season, it has not been all doom and gloom, 36 of the 82 goals allowed have come in four games and of their 13 losses, the ‘Horns have lost six time by two goals or less, with two of those losses coming in overtime.

Freshman forward Chase Schaber has also been a bright spot offensively for the ‘Horns, Schaber is tied for the conference scoring lead among freshmen with six goals and nine assists.

For the Cougars (7-7-2 CW), transition under first-year head coach Todd Johnson has relatively smooth and while they are sitting at 500, they have already surpassed their win total from last season. The Cougars finished the 2011-12 season in last place with a 5-20-3 record.

CALGARY DINOS (9-7-0, 12-10-0, OHT35 #17)
UBC THUNDERBIRDS (9-6-1, 14-7-1-1, OHT35 #13)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Audio - Saturday - CITR.ca]
|> [UBC Site - check for preview story]

Only one point separates these two teams in the race for 4th place. Last year the Bedrock Boys chased down the Tweety-Birds and then eliminated them from the playoffs. These two look to be on a collison course for a rematch.

The Dinos have had some major offensive explosions this year, 8-0 over Sask and 10-1 over Lethbridge. Could they repeat this against UBC? I suspect not. In fact, I suspect a split, just like they had when they met in Bedrock.


ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS (14-4-0, 23-4-0, OHT35 #1)
NAIT OOKS (13-0-1-1, 14-3-1-1, ACAC #1)

Links:
|> [no on-line live stats]
|> [no on-line audio or video]
|> [Alberta Site - check for preview story]
|> [NAIT Preview Story] : [NAIT Schedule/Results]

The Evil Monkeys played their series against the New Kittens on the Block during the first half bye week, thus freeing up this coming weekend. Therefore, a space was created for them to play their cross-town rivals in a home-and-home series. NAIT is unbeaten in ACAC conference play. In their only game against a CW team they lost 3-0 to the H0rny Ones.

OUT EAST:

Thursday, January 3
Waterloo at Laurier

Friday, January 4
Acadia at New Brunswick
St. Thomas at Saint Mary’s
Moncton at St. Francis Xavier
Dalhousie at UPEI
Carleton at McGill
Ryerson at Nipissing
Queen’s at RMC
Western Ontario at Brock
Windsor at UOIT
York at Waterloo
Guelph at Lakehead

NEWS:

There are some additional links from the holiday goings-on across the CIS. Also, there is a pro-roster cap story from the STU-Pids.
Links:
UNB v MHL: [VarsityReds.ca] : [Hockey Scene Game 1] : [Hockey Scene Game 2]
Moncton v UPEI: [Hockey Scene]
Toronto v Acadia: [Axemen Hockey] : [Hockey Scene] : [Boxscore News]
AUS Roster Cap: [The Aquinian - reposted at C.U.P.]

WEEKEND PREVIEW Updated

The U of M Site has not posted a weekend preview. But UBC and Sask have, and those links are posted. Sask also has a new late recruit, Jake Trask from Tulsa of the CHL. He's a former Saskatoon Blade. And the first game of 2013 has now been played, namely the K-W Derby in the OUA.

More Links:
|> [U of S Preview Story - reposted at Boxscore News]
|> [Jake Trask Career Stats]
|> [UBC Preview Story]

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:

Thursday, January 3
Waterloo 1 Laurier 2 : [CIS Boxscore]

Laurier halted a 4 game losing streak with a mild upset win over their cross-town rival. They probably needed the 2 points just a little more. While Waterloo is fighting to move up to 4th place and home ice advantage in the first round, Laurier is in a tight race for the last two playoff spots.

January 4, 2013

HERD HUMBLE HILLBILLIES


MANITOBA BISONS 4
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 2

Links:
|> [awaiting upload: CIS Friday Round-Up] : [CW Friday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore (to be uploaded)]
|> [U of S Game Story] : [reposted at U of M Site]

The Bisons probably didn't enjoy the trip to Saskatown (the smelly outhouses, gap-toothed inbreds, and banjo music on every radio station can really grate on one), but the trip was worth it. At least on Friday night.

I watched most on CanadaWest.tv. But in-between the 2nd and 3rd periods the link was lost until the very end. The sound and picture were also not in synch.

Eric Mestery scored his first goal as a Bison to give the Bisons a 1-0 lead at the 1st intermission. The Bisons carried the play for most of the period. The Mutts took 4 penalties, and the Bisons 3, so there were power plays most of the time.

The 2nd period was drab. The teams could have played with shovels. The Mutts outshot the Bisons 5-3, and outscored them 2-1. Del Cowan notched his 1st of the year on a PP one minute in. Then the Bisons played like they were hungover from New Year's. Three shots in a period? The Canine Codys (Smuk and Hobbs) each scored their 2nd goals of the season so that it was all level after two.

The Bisons slammed the door on the Mangy Ones in the 3rd period. Tyler Dittmer scored his 7th and 8th goals, both on the PP, and they outshot their hosts 10-6. And two of those shots came at the end when Sask had a late PP and pulled their goaltender.

Jesse Deckert tended goal for the Bisons while Ryan Holfield was in goal for the Mutts, as he has been for every game this season.

Of note, Sask was 0-for-5 on the PP, and the Bisons were 3-for-6. And Sask's top two lines were held scoreless.

The Bisons are now 3 points in arrears of Sask pending the Saturday night rematch.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 3
REGINA COUGARS 6

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of R Game Story] : [U of L Game Story]

The Province of Banjoland hosted two games on Friday. The Banjo-Cats racked up a big win over the H0rny Ones to salvage a split. The Puddy-Tats jumped all over them from the start. The H0rny Ones were two men short of a full roster.

After two periods Regina held a 31-11 lead in shots and a 4-2 lead on the scoreboard. The H0rny Ones did come back from a 3-0 deficit and were as close as 3-2 and then 4-3 before Regina put them away.

On the positive side, Chase Schaber scored his 7th and 8th goals for Lethbridge.


CALGARY DINOS 6
UBC THUNDERBIRDS 2

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [UBC Game Story] : [reposted at U of C Site]

The Tweety-Birds entered the night one point ahead of the Bedrock Boys and exited one point behind. This was a big game in the race for 4th place and this was a decisive victory for the Dinos. Taylor Stefishen (his 2nd and 3rd) and Walker Wintoneak (with his 9th and 10th) scored twice each to pace the Dinos. Dustin Butler got the win in goal.


ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 3
NAIT OOKS 2

Links:
|> [U of A Linescore] : [NAIT Schedule/Results]

All I have on this one is the score. NAIT made it close, so good for them. The last time the Monkeys played they beat Team Canada.

OUT EAST:

Friday, January 4
Acadia 2 New Brunswick 4
St. Thomas 1 Saint Mary’s 7
Moncton 1 St. Francis-Xavier 5
Dalhousie 1 UPEI 2 (ot)
Carleton 5 McGill 2
Ryerson 3 Nipissing 5
Queen’s 3 RMC 1
Western Ontario 3 Brock 2
Windsor 4 UOIT 7
York 4 Waterloo 3 (so)
Guelph 3 Lakehead 4 (ot)

UP NEXT:

Saturday, January 5
Manitoba at Saskatchewan : CanadaWest.tv
Lethbridge at Regina
Calgary at UBC
NAIT at Alberta [non-conference]
Moncton at Saint Mary’s
Dalhousie at New Brunswick
St. Thomas at St. Francis Xavier
Acadia at UPEI
Ottawa at Concordia
Laurier at Brock
UOIT at Western Ontario
Windsor at York
Nipissing at RMC
Toronto at Queen’s
Guelph at Lakehead

Sunday, January 6
McGill at Ottawa
Toronto at Ryerson
Carleton at Concordia

MEDIA REPORTS ABOUND

There are lots of stories posted the morning after. The above link for the Friday Round-Up has been updated, and I throw it in here for good measure. However, there is still no boxscore at the CIS site for the Bisons v Mutts game.

Links:
|> [CIS Friday Round-Up]
|> [Man v Sask: The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix]
|> [Cal v UBC: Boxscore News]
|> [Alta v NAIT: Edmonton Journal]

Star-Phoenix wrote:"It was huge," said Manitoba forward Ian Duval, who was named the game's No. 1 star. "The boys knew we'd be in a battle and we pulled it out in the third period. We had all four lines going and our D, and our goaltending was awesome.

"We just pulled it out in the end."

Saskatchewan slips to 134-0 in conference play.

Manitoba improves to 104-3, three points behind the second-place Huskies in the Canada West.

"Especially if you want home-ice advantage - the one-two spots in playoffs - this is huge," Duval added. "We closed the gap."

Manitoba staked out a 2-0 lead on goals by D-man Eric Mestery, who pinched in and converted on a nice feed from Duval, and Del Cowan, whose rising shot from the high slot appeared to catch just enough of a Huskie de-fender's stick to fool goalie Ryan Holfeld.

Cowan's goal, at 1: 13 of the second period, gave the Bisons a 2-0 lead.

From there, the Dogs' so-called piss line took over. Cody Smuk capitalized from the slot at 6: 28 after a feed from linemate Matt Spafford following a hard rush down the right side.

It was Smuk who later combined with another Cody, Cody Hobbs, to knot the score up at 2-2 at 13: 14 of the second. Hobbs was able to tuck a shot under the crossbar from in tight.

In the third, Tyler Dittmer scored power-play goals to give the Bisons the win.

"They had a couple of goals that were rebound goals and that's a team effort there, preventing those types of goals," Smuk said.

"Our PK obviously needs to watch some video because they got three power-play goals on us. We need to obviously be better in that department. If we prevent those PP goals, it's a 2-1 win for us instead of a 4-2 loss."

UBC at Boxscore wrote:After killing off a power play to start the second period, the Thunderbirds started to turn up their offensive game, led by leading scoer Max Grassi. The fourth year product had three chances on one shift, including a point blank opportunity on a two on one, but Dustin Butler was there to deny him every time. Butler's counterpart Jordan White (Surrey, BC) was no slouch himself stopping Dinos captain Brock Nixon twice, once on a shorthanded partial breakaway and again on the power play with an outstanding left pad save on a one timer. The 'Birds would score the equlizer with 3:32 left in the second period as Neil Manning's (Nanaimo, BC) wrister found the back of the net for his first career CIS goal, tieing the game at 2-2. However, the excitement wouldn't last long as Walker Wintoneak scored on the power play with 4.9 seconds left in the frame to give Calgary a 3-2 lead after two periods of play.

"That goal killed us," said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic. "We took a bad penalty, didn't get the puck, and they made us pay scoring the eventual game winner."

Evan Daum at Edmonton Journal wrote:Not only did former U of A defence partners turned head coaches Ian Herbers and Serge Lajoie face off behind the Bears’ and Ooks’ benches, respectively, but several Edmonton Oil Kings also renewed acquaintances.

Alberta, the top-ranked team in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, handed the Ooks, who lead Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, a 3-2 loss in an entertaining affair at NAIT Arena, where Canadian women’s national team goalie Shannon Szabados stole the show, facing nearly 50 shots.

“I was very impressed by U of A,” NAIT head coach Serge Lajoie said. “They’ve set a tremendous measuring stick for us and it’s the kind of hockey we aspire to play.

“We gave up too many high-quality chances, but that’s the type of goaltending we’ve got all year. Shannon has been tremendous.”

Flying Monkey crushes female.

January 5, 2013

BISON LOSS GIVES THEM A SPLIT


MANITOBA BISONS 2
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 3

Links:
|> [awaiting upload: CIS Saturday Round-Up] : [CW Saturday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [CIS Friday Boxscore]
|> [U of S Game Story] : [reposted at U of M Site - with summary]

The Bisons had to make two line-up changes, losing captain and defenceman Dane Crowley and forward Brendan Rowinski, to be replaced by Lee Christensen and Austin Lauder.

Once again, the goaltending match-up was Jesse Deckert v Ryan Holfield. After 21 minutes the shots were even, but the Mangy Ones had stormed out to a 3-0 lead, all goals coming from their top two lines. After that, the Bisons took control but all they could do was pull back two goals.

Ian Duval and Matthew Lowry both scored their 6th goals of the season for the Bisons. In the end the Bisons outshot the Mutts 40-27, 27-15 over the last two periods.

Next weekend the Mutts visit the Monkeys and the Bisons host Mount Royal.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 2
REGINA COUGARS 4

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of R Game Story] : [reposted at U of L Site]

Those confounding Cougars swept their series with the H0rny Ones in convincing fashion. The H0rny Ones were badly outshot (53-26 on the night) yet were tied well into the 3rd period. Brock Appleyard scored his first two goals of the season to break the 2-2 tie and give the Puddy-Tats the series sweep.


CALGARY DINOS 2
UBC THUNDERBIRDS 1
(in overtime)

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [UBC Game Story] : [not yet posted at U of C Site]

The late game on the schedule took overtime to complete. Bad news for the Birds. The Dinos will be taking 4 points back to the Town of Bedrock. And in the process the Boys from British California's hopes of a 4th place finish are a page right out of history.

Calgary scored in the 1st, UBC in the 2nd, and then the two sides could only muster 6 shots on goal in the entire 3rd period.


NAIT OOKS 0
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 3

Links:
|> [U of A Linescore] : [NAIT Schedule/Results]
|> [Friday CW Summary]

There is, as I post, no summary for the Saturday game, but they did get up a summary for Friday's game. All I know (from Twitter) is that Alberta scored late to put the game away. Hopefully, a late link for Saturday's game will appear.

STANDINGS:

Code:

Team          W  L  OTL  PTS
Saskatchewan  14  4  0  28
Alberta      14  4  0  28
Manitoba      10  5  3  23
Calgary      11  7  0  22
Regina        9  7  2  20
UBC            9  7  2  20
Mount Royal    4  14  0    8
Lethbridge    1  15  2    4

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]

Saturday, January 5
Moncton 2 Saint Mary’s 6
Dalhousie 0 New Brunswick 3
St. Thomas 0 St. Francis Xavier 3
Acadia 2 UPEI 4
Ottawa 0 Concordia 2
Laurier 4 Brock 3
UOIT 1 Western Ontario 7
Windsor 2 York 3
Nipissing 8 RMC 2
Toronto 3 Queen’s 2 (ot)
Guelph 5 Lakehead 2

UP NEXT:

Sunday, January 6
McGill at Ottawa
Toronto at Ryerson
Carleton at Concordia

Wednesday, January 9
Concordia at McGill
Carleton at UQTR

Thursday, January 10
UOIT at Laurier

Friday, January 11
Mount Royal at Manitoba
Saskatchewan at Alberta
Regina at Calgary
UBC at Lethbridge
Acadia at Moncton
Dalhousie at St. Thomas
New Brunswick at St. Francis Xavier
UPEI at Saint Mary’s
Lakehead at York
McGill at Carleton
Ottawa at UQTR
RMC at Nipissing
Brock at Windsor
Western Ontario at Waterloo

WEEKEND PREVIEW


MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS (4-14-0, 5-16-1, OHT35 #28)
MANITOBA BISONS (10-5-3, 13-7-3-1, OHT35 #9)

Friday, January 11th, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Max Bell Arena, U of M
Saturday, January 12th, 2:30 p.m. CST @ Max Bell Arena, U of M

Live Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [no on-line audio or video]

Manitoba Links:
|> [U of M Preview story]
|> [LS Roster] : [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]

Mount Royal Links:
|> [MRU News Page]
|> [LS Roster] : [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]

Prior Games:
|> [Oct 19: Manitoba 4-1] : [Oct 20: Manitoba 3-2]

Other Links:
|> [CIS Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links]
|> [CW Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links] : [Standings]
|> [LeagueStat Daily] : [CW Weekly Media Notes #11]
|> [Every Link Re: CIS Hockey]

The Bisons are at home for the first time in 2013, and it is not too soon for me. Note that Saturday's game is a rare matinee performance.

There are only 10 games left for each team in the league. So the New Kittens on the Block really need points badly. They are 12 points out of a playoff berth.

The Bisons sit 3rd, and are 5 points out of 1st. Realistically, the race is now for 3rd (where they lead Calgary by a point).

The Bisons are now done with Alberta and Sask. They have a favourable closing schedule, provided of course that they run the table against teams like the Kittens.

One player to watch on MRU is Eric Galbraith, a sniper with 12 goals through 16 games.

Last weekend Dane Crowley and Brendan Rowinski did not suit up in Saturday's game. Hopefully, they will be ready to return.

ELSEWHERE:


UBC THUNDERBIRDS (9-7-2, 14-8-2-1, OHT35 #15)
LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS (1-15-2, 3-20-2, OHT35 #35)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video Both Nights]
|> [U of L Preview Story] : [UBC Preview Story]

I am not expecting much from the H0rny Ones for the remainder if the season. They even had to play short last weekend. So will UBC be able to bounce back from last weekend's disaster against Calgary? If they want to be in the race with the top teams, this is the type of road series they must sweep. I suspect that on home ice the 'Horns will have at least one strong outing.

UBC has their own issues, summarized in their preview story:

The funk has seen the 'Birds go 1-4-1 in their last six games. Prior to that they were 8-3-1 on season. The reason is simple, UBC has struggled to find the back of the net. In their first 12 games of the year the Thunderbirds averaged nearly four goals a game, but in their last six games they have scored just eight goals total. Look no further then the team's veteran group of forwards for the answer. Max Grassi (North Vancouver, BC), Scott Wasden (West Kelowna, BC), and Nate Fleming (St.Albert, AB) have all gone six games without a goal, while Wyatt Hamilton (Cochrane, AB) is in the midst of a seven game scoring drought. It doesn't help either that the defence this season has chipped in with just three goals combined.

REGINA COUGARS (9-7-2, 10-13-2, OHT35 #18)
CALGARY DINOS (11-7-0, 14-10-0, OHT35 #14)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [no on-line audio or video]
|> [U of C Preview Story - reposted at CW Site]
|> [U of R Preview Story]

I have said on many occasions that I am confounded by the Old Cougars. They are tied for 5th with 20 points and could vault past Calgary this weekend. Wow! They looked like one of the worst teams in CW history when they played the Bisons both in pre-season and in regular season.

I have a hunch that Calgary will bear down and sweep this, just as they did with UBC last weekend. They will close with series against Manitoba, Alberta, Sask., and MRU. So they need to establish some dominance in series like this one if they want to be competitive.

The Regina story says they have added a mid-season recruit of their own, namely Drew Czerwonka, a good Irish boy.


SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES (14-4-0, 16-5-1, OHT35 #3)
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS (14-4-0, 25-4-0, OHT35 #1)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video Both Nights]
|> [U of A Preview Story] : [U of S Site]
|> [Star Phoenix story on Reekie]

The Main Event of the weekend is the 1st place showdown in Edmontown. The Monkeys and the Mutts are both 14-4. The Monkeys went 0-2 against the Mutts in their first meeting. I'd be looking for a turn-around in this one. But the Monkeys are vulnerable to the physical teams, so maybe the Mutts can find a physical game.

The Alberta preview has some interesting factoids:

Since the 1996-97 season, only two teams have won the Canada West championship: Alberta with 11, and Saskatchewan with five. In fact, since the completion of the 2002 regular season, the Bears and Huskies have finished no worse than third in the conference standings, including eight straight years finishing 1-2 in the conference standings. The Golden Bears have been the best team in the regular season 10 out of the last 11 seasons, while Saskatchewan has been the No.2 team eight times, and the third-place team three times.

The linked story on Mutt goalie David Reekie says he is now cleared to play. He was in a car accident in September. I'd be surprised to see him debut against the Monkeys.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:

Wednesday, January 9
Carleton 3 UQTR 1 : [CIS Boxscore]
Concordia 2 McGill 3 (ot) : [CIS Boxscore]

NEWS:


Other than the newest top 10 news releases, there is an AUS Update at the CIS Blog and more speculation on the Dalhousie situation. The rumour at the CTV link is that it dealt with the team making payments to players. It would be nice for the CIS to release a finding. This is on the heels of the school suspending their women's team over hazing. We await details on that one, too.
Links:
CIS Blog: [AUS Update]
CTV: [Dalhousie men's hockey team braces for punishment]
CIS Top Ten: [CIS Press Release - reposted at [CW Site]]

January 11, 2013

BISONS CRUSH THE NEW KITTENS ON THE BLOCK


MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS 3
MANITOBA BISONS 6

Links:
|> [awaiting upload: CIS Friday Round-Up] : [CW Friday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of M Game Story] : [reposted at MRU News Page]
|> [Pre-Game Audio Clip]

The City of Winnipeg was in pre-blizzard conditions, yet there was a decent enough turn-out to see the Bisons play their first home game of 2013. While the win was convincing, the performance was not. The New Kittens on the Block simply do not constiute a threat to the Bisons. They do have a big defence, and a few large forwards as well. Their solid blue uniforms tend to enhance the visual effect of their size. But their only offence tended to come from the Bisons making unncessary gambles in an attempt to pad the stats.

Matthew Lowry led the Bisons, scoring his 7th, 8th, and 9th goals of the season and was named 1st star. Dylan Kelly contributed his 3rd and 4th goals of the season to earn 2nd star honours. For some reason they named Jesse Deckert 3rd star. I thought he was fighting the puck. He was rolling around on his back on more than one occasion when it was not necessary. Tyler Dittmer also scored his 9th of the season. And new recurit Brodie Melnychuk made his debut on the Bison blue-line.

Here's how they lined up:

Manitoba

Goal:
35 Deckert (1 Caligiuri)

Defence:
4 Schappert - 20 Lockerby
6 Melnychuk - 2 Crowley
3 Mestery - 24 Bobbee

Forwards:
23 Dittmer - 19 Duval - 26 Macaulay
21 Cowan - 9 Lowry - 10 Rowinski
29 Cain - 11 Henry - 27 Feakes
18 Kelly - 25 Ciarelli - 16 Paradis

Scratches:
G: 34 Dubyk
D: 5 Christensen - 12 Sutherland - 22 Bestland
F: 14 Green - 15 Scott - 17 Lauder

Mount Royal

Goal:
30 Cote (33 Flette)

Defence:
6 McKay - 20 Tresierra
5 Scott - 21 Strong
26 Beech - 4 Perreault

Forwards:
28 Knopp - 8 Turnbull - 14 J Burns
13 Brown - 25 Jewitt - 16 Galbraith
24 Marshall - 19 Harrison - 12 Eskesen
15 Asuchak - 17 Barrett - 9 Garrison

Scratches:
G: 1 Nickel
D: 3 Collister
F: 7 Reinbolt - 10 Ius - 11 M Burns
F: 18 MacMaster - 22 Brown

I'll be interested to see if Saturtday's matinee match-up (don't forget - 2:30) will see the Bisons introduce some of the taxi squad to the line-up. The 4th line got way more ice time than usual, and had two goals and several more good chances.

The snake-bit Bison of the night was easily Luke Cain. He had three goalposts.

The hit of the night was a double head-shot when two Kittens collided inside their blue-line. Jordon Harrison ran into Tyler Eskesen (or vice versa). Both were down and out as the Bisons were on the offensive. The ref blew play down perhaps early than the rules call for, simply because they needed help off.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


UBC THUNDERBIRDS 7
LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 1

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of L Game Story] : [UBC Game Story]

The H0rny Ones are officially the free square on the CW Bingo Card. They were soundly whipped, and perhaps were even flattered by the scoreboard. The shots by period show how one-sided this debacle was: 21-7, 21-6, and 16-2. That's right. Down 3-1 entering the 3rd period on home ice and Lethbridge only gets two shots on goal in the period.


SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 2
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 3

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore (to be uploaded)]
|> [U of A Linescore (Game Story to be uploaded)] : [U of S Site]

The U of A used to be fast with posting game stories, but still nothing as I draft this post.

This was another game where the Monkeys dominated the stats but were unable to piut the Banjo-Mutts away. The Mangy Ones were able to steal two games in Saskatown in the 1st half of the season, and could well have done so again on Friday night. After two periods the game was tied 1-1 but the shots were 28-14 in favour of the Primates. The Hillbillies then had only two shots on goal in the 3rd period, but one of them went in. The game was tied 2-2 when Kruise "Pokey" Reddick scored at 18:39 of the 3rd to give Saudi Alberta at least temporary control of 1st place.

Coupled with Manitoba's win, Sask is now just 3 points ahead of the Herd in the race for 2nd, while falling 2 points behind Alberta in the race for 1st.

Saturday night's rematch will be on CanadaWest.tv.


REGINA COUGARS 1
CALGARY DINOSUARS 2

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of C Game Story] : [U of R Site]

Those always surprising Banjo-Cats engaged the Bedrock Boys in quite a battle Friday night. A shorthanded goal by Walker Wintoneuk (his 11th) early in the 3rd period gave the win to the Dinos. Regina went with Lucas Gore in goal, while Calgary countered with Dustin Butler. Both sides have been rotating goaltenders most of the season, so look for that. Regina falls 4 points behind Calgary, and two behind UBC.

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Thursday, January 10
UOIT 4 Laurier 6

Friday, January 11
Acadia 3 Moncton 4
Dalhousie 1 St. Thomas 2
New Brunswick 5 St. Francis-Xavier 2
UPEI 2 Saint Mary’s 1
Lakehead 2 York 4
McGill 3 Carleton 2
Ottawa 3 UQTR 7
RMC 3 Nipissing 8
Brock 4 Windsor 6
Western Ontario 5 Waterloo 4

UP NEXT:

Saturday, January 12
Mount Royal at Manitoba (2:30 PM CST)
Regina at Calgary (7:00 PM CST)
Saskatchewan at Alberta (7:00 PM CST) : CanadaWest.tv
UBC at Lethbridge (7:00 PM CST) : CanadaWest.tv
UPEI at St. F-X
Acadia at St. Thomas
UNB at Saint Mary's
Dalhousie at Moncton
UQTR at Concordia
Lakehead at York
Laurier at Windsor
Ryerson at Queen's
Western Ontario at UOIT
Brock at Waterloo
RMC at Toronto

Sunday, January 13
Ryerson at Ottawa
Nipissing at Toronto

NEWS:

The on-going troubles in Dalhousie continue to make headlines. The Chronicle-Herald laments the dwindling leadership affecting all of Dalhousie hockey, from the men's and women's teams problems to their arena being torn down as plans are still in preliminary stages (at best) for the construction of a new one. A separate story pins the likely source of the men';s team investigation to "scholarship irregularities".

Links:
|> [Where is Dalhousie’s leadership in hockey?]
|> [CIS investigating allegations about improper financial awards]

ONE CRAZY MATINEE!


MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS 7
MANITOBA BISONS 8
(in overtime)

Links:
|> [awaiting upload: CIS Saturday Round-Up] : [CW Saturday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of M Game Story] : [reposted at MRU News Page]

It was Minor Hockey Day in Manitoba, so the Bisons let in all kids in their hockey jersey free of charge. So the place was fairly packed with kids. That, plus the matinee start time, created somewhat of a surreal atmosphere. It seemed to rub off on the players. The goals were coming fast and furious all night. Which is just what the kids wanted.

The Bisons made numerous line-up changes, obviously feeling that this was a golden opportunity to give some playing time to depth players. Here's how they lined up:

Manitoba

Goal:
1 Caligiuri (1st & 2nd) 35 Deckert (3rd)

Defence:
6 Melnychuk - 4 Schappert
3 Mestery - 24 Bobbee
22 Bestland - 12 Sutherland

Forwards:
23 Dittmer - 19 Duval - 26 Macaulay
21 Cowan - 9 Lowry - 10 Rowinski
15 Scott - 11 Henry - 16 Paradis
18 Kelly - 25 Ciarelli - 17 Lauder

Scratches:
G: 34 Dubyk
D: 2 Crowley - 5 Christensen - 20 Lockerby
F: 14 Green - 27 Feakes - 29 Cain

Mount Royal

Goal:
33 Flette (1st & 2nd) 30 Cote (3rd)

Defence:
6 McKay - 20 Tresierra
5 Scott - 21 Strong
26 Beech - 4 Perreault

Forwards:
28 Knopp - 8 Turnbull - 14 J Burns
13 Brown - 25 Jewitt - 16 Galbraith
15 Asuchak - 17 Barrett - 9 Garrison
24 Marshall - 19 Harrison

Scratches:
G: 1 Nickel
D: 3 Collister
F: 7 Reinbolt - 10 Ius - 11 M Burns
F: 12 Eskesen - 18 MacMaster - 22 Brown

I will be interested to see if Crowley returns next week. He was kneed on Friday night and left the game. The New Kittens on the Block played one short of a full litter. Tyler Eskesen was scratched after having been nailed by a team-mate on Friday.

The opening period was fairly even, and the Bisons took a 3-2 lead. MRU scored off the opening face-off. Therafter the Bisons took control of the game. They were able to score on nice passing plays and seemed able to skate around the MRU defence. Of note, Craig Scott scored his first as a Bison on his first shift of the season, and Tyler Dittmer scored two goals.

Jeremy Schappert converted an Ian Duval pass on a PP early in the 2nd period to give the Bisons a 4-2 lead and all appeared to be well in hand. But between 3:05 and 4:54 each team had two goals and the score was 5-4 Bisons. The additional Bison goal came from Blair Macaulay. There was controversy when the Kittens scored by knocking it with a paw.

Things calmed down for a bit when the Bisons went on the PP. Darren Bestland fumbled a puck at the blueline, allowing Kevin Knopp to jump on the loose puck and score on a breakaway tie level the score at 5-5. James Henry the noticed that no Kittens were looking at him and stood behind everybody. Macaulay hit him with a pass and the breakaway goal made it 6-5. The Bisons were unable to hold the lead as Caligiuri allowed a floater from the blueline to elude him and the teams entered the 2nd intermission tied 6-6.

Neither starting goaltender returned for the 3rd period. The Bisons started two men short. At the end of the 2nd period Del Cowan was killing a penalty when he scooped up a loose puck and was on a 2-1 with Dittmer. The pass was off and Cowan gave a two-hander to the defender with only 17 seconds left. Bad idea. They could have easily killed the last 17 seconds.

MRU then took advantage when they scored on the two-man advantage. But after that they only had 3 shots the rest of the period. Dittmer eventually completed his hat-trick (and his 12th goal of the year) and it was 7-7. MRU played kitty-bar-the-door hockey for pretty much the whole 3rd period and seemed happy going to OT. They didn't do too much in OT either. So in the 2nd OT period (3 on 3) Blair Macaulay scored his 2nd of the game and 9th of the season to give the Herd the win. Deckert assisted on the winner, giving him 3 assists for the weekend. Not many goaltenders can boast those offensive stats.

The Bisons host the Calgary Dinos next Friday and Saturday nights, in games that will also be available on CanadaWest.tv.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


UBC THUNDERBIRDS 3
LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 0

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of L Game Story] : [UBC Game Story]

Pity the H0rny Ones. They have an injury bug and started two mean short then lost two more during the game. At least they put up a fight. I saw the 3rd period of this one on-line. I fear for Lethbridge going into Alberta next weekend. Nothing more needs to be said about this series.


SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 2
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 3

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of A Linescore (Game Story to follow)] : [U of S Site]

I saw a lot of this one on CanadaWest.tv. The Monkeys dominated the 1st period with an 18-5 lead in shots and a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard. But they seem to be unable to turn dominance into goals against the Mangy Ones. Two goals in the 2nd period, which bracketed one Monkey marker, made it 3-2 heading into the 3rd period. The final frame was scoreless, despite 11 shots from each side. Most of Sask's chances came late. Kelly Mucha started again for the Apes, the first time this season they did not split the starts between their goaltenders.

This gives Saudi Alberta a 4 point edge over Sask in the race for 1st. In fact, Sask is now just one ahead on Manitoba in the race for 2nd, which is their likely focus right now.


REGINA COUGARS 3
CALGARY DINOSUARS 5

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of C Game Story] : [U of R Reposted Friday Game Story]

The Banjo-Cats could not hold a lead on Saturday night and so go pointless over a weekend of hotly contested games. They entered the weekend within striking distance of 4th place, but are now 4 points out of 5th and 6 points behind the 4th place Dinos.

Regina held period leads of 2-0 and 3-2. However, Calgary had a solid edge in shots every period (3, 3, 4 over the game). Each side also continued their goaltender rotation, as Andrew Hayes dueled with Jacob Deserres.

This sweep makes it 7 in a row for the Bedrock Boys. Now comes the hard part of their schedule. Calgary, UBC, Regina, and Lethbridge have all played each other twice and now each has one series left against each of Alberta, Sask, Manitoba, and Mount Royal. The Dinos trail Manitoba by one point, and Sask by two. Can they run the table?

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Saturday, January 12
Acadia 6 St. Thomas 3
Dalhousie 4 Moncton 0
New Brunswick 3 Saint Mary’s 5
UPEI 3 St. Francis-Xavier 2
UQTR 5 Concordia 3
Lakehead 5 York 3
Western Ontario 5 UOIT 2
Brock 3 Waterloo 2 (ot)
Ryerson 3 Queen’s 1
Laurier 2 Windsor 6
RMC 1 Toronto 6

UP NEXT:

Sunday, January 13
Ryerson at Ottawa
Nipissing at Toronto

Tuesday, January 15
Carleton at Queen’s

Wednesday, January 16
Saint Mary’s at Dalhousie
St. Francis-Xavier at Acadia
St. Thomas at New Brunswick
Moncton at UPEI
UQTR at McGill

Thursday, January 17
Waterloo at York
Western Ontario at Laurier

Friday, January 18
Calgary at Manitoba : CanadaWest.tv
UBC at Saskatchewan
Lethbridge at Alberta : CanadaWest.tv
Regina at Mount Royal : CanadaWest.tv
Acadia at Saint Mary’s
St. Thomas at Moncton
Dalhousie at St. Francis-Xavier
New Brunswick at UPEI
McGill at Ottawa
Queen’s at Nipissing
Toronto at Carleton
Windsor at Brock
UOIT at Lakehead
Waterloo at Guelph
UQTR at Concordia
RMC at Ryerson

WEEKEND PREVIEW


CALGARY DINOSAURS (13-7-0, 16-10-0, OHT35 #12)
MANITOBA BISONS (12-5-3, 15-7-3-1, OHT35 #6)

Friday, January 18th, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Max Bell Arena, U of M
Saturday, January 19th, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Max Bell Arena, U of M

Live Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [no on-line audio or video]

Manitoba Links:
|> [U of M Preview story]
|> [LS Roster] : [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]
|> [Winnipeg Sun: Logjam in standings ...]

Calgary Links:
|> [Calgary Preview Story - reposted at CW Site]
|> [Flames to host CIS hockey doubleheader]
|> [LS Roster] : [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]

Prior Games:
|> [Oct 26: Manitoba 4-1] : [Oct 27: Calgary 3-2 (so)]

Other Links:
|> [CIS Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links]
|> [CW Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links] : [Standings]
|> [LeagueStat Daily] : [CW Weekly Media Notes #12]
|> [Every Link Re: CIS Hockey]

The home stretch is upon us. There are only four weekends left in the regular schedule, which means 8 games per team. To get the full gist of this weekend's series, just look at the standings:

Team`````````` W`` L``OTL``PTS
Alberta`````` 16`` 4`` 0`` 32
Saskatchewan``14`` 6`` 0`` 28
Manitoba``````12`` 5`` 3`` 27
Calgary`````` 13`` 7`` 0`` 26
UBC```````````11`` 7`` 2`` 24
Regina```````` 9`` 9`` 2`` 20
Mount Royal````4``15`` 1````9
Lethbridge```` 1``17`` 2````4

The major advantage the Bisons hold over the Bedrock Boys is that when the Dinos play Alberta and Saskatchewan, the Bisons will be facing Lethbridge and UBC. The Dinos will also face their cross-town rival New Kittens on the Block when the Bisons will face the Old Kittens in Banjoland.

What does this mean? Calgary needs to win this series if they hope to leap-frog the Bisons into 3rd, and Sask into 2nd. Frankly, the Bisons will be keeping more of an eye on those Mangy Inbreds. 2nd place carries with it a bye to the semi-finals whilst both 3rd and 4th host the quarter-finals.

Calgary was off to a mediocre start this year. They have now run up a 7-game winning streak, but notably none of those wins have been over the Top Three.

The Bisons have held a hot hand themselves. going 6-1-1 in their last 8 games. Those games include 2 games each against Alberta and Sask.

The Dinos have 6 of the top 20 scorers in the league, but only 7 of the top 40. Walker Wintoneak, Brock Nixon, Taylor Stefishen, Tyler Fiddler, and Kevin King are all amongst the top scoring forwards in the league, all at or around a point per game. Kodie Curran on D has 2 goals and 17 assists. Their goaltenders have been splitting series lately. Dustin Butler is a former CIS goaltender of the year and Jacob DeSerres was in the Phoenix Coyotes' camp last season.

The Bisons have been paced by the Dittmer-Duval-Macaulay line. They are all in the top 9 scorers. In fact, Macaulay and Duval are currently tied with Kyle Bortis of Sask for the league scoring lead. I'll be interested to see whether or not the Bisons will have all their usual starters available, in particular captain Dane Crowley.

I doubt we'll see another 8-7 game, either this weekend or for the remainder of the season. However, these teams can generate goals as well.

This series WAS scheduled to be on CanadaWest.tv, but not any more.


Jesse Deckert photo, from the Winnipeg Sun story.

ELSEWHERE:


UBC THUNDERBIRDS (11-7-2, 16-8-2-1, OHT35 #15)
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES (14-6-0, 16-7-1, OHT35 #4)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [no on-line audio or video]
|> [Ron McLean to speak at Gala - reposted at CW Site]
|> [UBC Preview Story]

This series very much mirrors the Bison/Dino series. UBC is coming off an easy sweep of Lethbridge, which frankly is no big deal. Sask saw their 1st place hopes basically go up in smoke when they were swept by the Monkeys. This is a series where UBC must be feeling the pressure to prove whether they are ready to join the big boys in Canada West. Do they belong in that group? Or should they just be happy that they are ahead of Regina? This series is one where they can show what they are made of, for good or for bad.


LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS (1-17-2, 3-22-2, OHT35 #35)
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS (16-4-0, 27-4-0, OHT35 #1)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video Both Nights]
|> [U of A Preview Story] : [U of L Preview Story]

Enjoy watching carnage from a train wreck? Then this series should be right up your alley. #1 v #35. Ugh, I cannot fathom how bad this might be.


REGINA COUGARS (9-9-2, 10-15-2, OHT35 #21)
MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS (4-15-1, 5-17-2, OHT35 #30)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video Both Nights]
|> [MRU News Page] : [U of R Site]

Cougar vs. Cougar. Sounds like a catfight outside the Palomino on ladies' night. Regina have looked like crap in all four games I saw them play. But yet week after week I see their results and they have been competitive. They have an 11 point lead over MRU in what is not yet a race for 6th place. Regina could clinch a playoff berth this weekend, with 6 games left!

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Sunday, January 13
Ryerson 4 Ottawa 9
Nipissing 1 Toronto 5

Tuesday, January 15
Carleton 3 Queen’s 1

Wednesday, January 16
Saint Mary’s 3 Dalhousie 0
St. F-X 1 Acadia 5
St. Thomas 0 New Brunswick 7
Moncton 2 UPEI 3 (ot)
UQTR 2 McGill 4

NEWS:


The suspension of the Dalhousie women's team has been upheld. Now we need some detail as to what exactly happened. No report has made an allegation of anything that sounds the least bit serious. I guess we'll wait for internet rumours! And, as usual, the CIS released an official top ten list.
Links:
Dalhousie women's suspension: [TSN.ca] : [Winnipeg Sun]
CIS Top Ten: [CIS Press Release - reposted at [CW Site]]

BISONS BEAT BEDROCK BOYS
... AND VAULT INTO 2ND PLACE


CALGARY DINOSAURS 0
MANITOBA BISONS 6

Links:
|> [CIS Friday Round-Up] : [CW Friday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of M Game Story] : [U of C Game Story]
|> [ChrisD Preview Story]

As The Rock would say, the Bisons put boots to @**** on Friday night. Six different Bisons scored goals, Jesse Deckert posted the shut-out, and Luke Cain laid the smack down on Rylan Wiest's roody poo candy @**.

Traffic was slow-moving Friday night in the `Peg so we got to the game about 7 minutes into the 1st period. By that time James Henry had already scored (his 6th). I was there for a mid-period powerplay goal by Travis Bobbee (his 4th). He walked in from the blueline untouched. The Dinos parted like the Red Sea before Moses to allow Bobbee to go 1-on-1 with Dustin Butler. The 1st period scoring concluded when the Bison 4th line (getting lots of ice time on the night) chalked up another when Paul Ciarelli notched his 2nd of the year from a goalmouth scramble.

The 3-0 lead was not enough. The Bisons generated several golden opportunities throughout the 2nd period. Cain had a breakaway whilst shorthanded and rang it off the crossbar. Then on a powerplay Matthew Lowry scored his 10th and it was 4-0. Butler made a great save off Blair Macaulay, but within seconds he did not miss on another setup by Ian Duval so that he, too, would have his 10th goal. That chased Butler, and Jacob DeSerres entered the Dino goal. But he could not stop Dylan Kelly on a breakaway, so it was 6-0 after two periods.

The Dino hopes for a comeback were as illusionary as a girlfriend for Manti Te'o. The Bisons seemed to just want to run the clock down as quickly as possible in the 3rd period. There was not a lot of cheap stuff or penalties. Then all of a sudden it became like Slapshot. Dino Rylan Wiest knocked the helmet off Luke Cain and was going to get two for roughing. After a little discussion Cain started to pound the living bejeebers out of Wiest. Cain may have sore fingers. Then right at the end of the game one Bedrock Boy was yapping at the Bison bench, which prompted a melee. Captain Dane Crowley picked up Blake Clement and tossed him into the boards. The tempers should be well-heated for the Saturday rematch.

After this weekend's games were listed, and then not listed, on the CAnaadWest.tv line-up, I see that they are back on.

Here's how they lined up:

Manitoba

Goal:
35 Deckert (1 Caligiuri)

Defence:
6 Melnychuk - 24 Bobbee
22 Bestland - 2 Crowley
3 Mestery - 4 Schappert

Forwards:
23 Dittmer - 19 Duval - 26 Macaulay
9 Lowry - 21 Cowan - 10 Rowinski
29 Cain - 11 Henry - 27 Feakes
18 Kelly - 25 Ciarelli - 16 Paradis

Scratches:
G: 34 Dubyk
D: 5 Christensen - 12 Sutherland - 20 Lockerby
F: 14 Green - 15 Scott - 17 Lauder

Calgary

Goal:
31 Butler - 37 DeSerres

Defence:
27 Pritz - 4 Egener
22 Bartman - 17 Nyren
44 Curran - 11 Dzielski

Forwards:
39 Nixon - 10 Banfield - 24 Wintoneak
13 Ismond - 25 King - 40 Stefishen
7 Ross - 12 Grant - 19 Clement
5 Gillen - 18 Wiest - 21 Myers

Scratches:
G: 1 Lazaruk
D: 14 Stojan
F: 29 Edwards

That's right, Bartman was in the Dino line-up.


OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


UBC THUNDERBIRDS 6
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 4

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of S Game Story] : [U of S Preview Story] : [UBC Game Story]

This was the upset of the night. UBC usually falls apart like a cheap watch at this time of the season on the road against a contender. David Reekie made his first start of the year in the Banjo-Mutt goal and was chased after surrendering 4 goals on 21 shots in 37 minutes of work. UBC kept taking leads only to see Sask tie it up, up until Sask scored two in a row to claim a 4-3 lead. UBC's final goal was scored into an empty net. Although one guy claimed to have seen Lennay Kekua standing there.


LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 1
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 4

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of A Linescore] : [U of L Game Story]

The H0rny Ones were three men short of a full line-up but at least put in a credible performance on Friday night. This could have been so much worse. #1 v #35 makes one fear for the worst. Could the Monkeys actually drop a point this weekend? One would doubt it. Saturday night's rematch will be on CanadaWest.tv.


REGINA COUGARS 3
MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS 0

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [MRU Game Story] : [U of R Story]

The Cowtown Catfight resulted in yet another win for the Banjo-Cats. Lucus Gore got the shutout and Brock Appleyard to pace the Hillbillies to their win. The New Kittens on the Block would be officially eliminated from the playoffs with a loss on Saturday in the rematch. The game will be on CanadaWest.tv.

With only 7 games left in the season, Regina is within 4 points of Calgary and UBC. There's something that really surprises me.

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Thursday, January 17
Waterloo 6 York 3
Western Ontario 0 Laurier 2

Friday, January 18
Acadia 2 Saint Mary’s 3 (ot)
St. Thomas 4 Moncton 5
Dalhousie 2 St. F-X 5
New Brunswick 3 UPEI 2 (ot)
McGill 5 Ottawa 3
Queen’s 0 Nipissing 3
Toronto 3 Carleton 5
Windsor 3 Brock 1
UOIT 2 Lakehead 3
Waterloo 2 Guelph 3
UQTR 4 Concordia 1
RMC 2 Ryerson 8
Calgary 0 Manitoba 6
UBC 6 Saskatchewan 4
Lethbridge 1 Alberta 4
Regina 3 Mount Royal 0

UP NEXT:

Saturday, January 19
Lethbridge at Alberta : CanadaWest.tv
Calgary at Manitoba : CanadaWest.tv
UBC at Saskatchewan
Regina at Mount Royal : CanadaWest.tv
Acadia at Dalhousie
New Brunswick at Moncton
Saint Mary’s at St. F-X
UPEI at St. Thomas
Concordia at Carleton
Brock at York
UOIT at Lakehead
Western Ontario at Guelph
Queen’s at Toronto
Windsor at Laurier

Sunday, January 20
Ottawa at Ryerson

DINOS TAKE IT IN OT


CALGARY DINOSAURS 3
MANITOBA BISONS 2
(in overtime)

Links:
|> [CIS Saturday Round-Up] : [CW Saturday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of M Game Story] : [U of C Game Story]

The Bisons scrambled from behind all night and in the end had to be satisfied with one point, and three on the weekend. The Bisons generally carried the play but Jacob Deserres was able to steal this one for the Bedrock Boys.

Calgary had a strong 1st period and scored the only goal, when Corey Banfield converted when the Dinos capitalized on an awkward Bison line change.

In the 2nd period there were no goals but the Bisons had their chances. Calgary was caught flat-footed on several occasions. In particular, Ian Duval had a clean chance from the top of the face-off circle in on a deft pass from Blair Macaulay only to have Deserres make a left-foot save.

The Bisons carried the 3rd period, Calgary even gave up a breakaway to Matthew Lowry on their own powerplay. But after being repeatedly foiled by Deserres the Bisons finally tied it up 13 minutes in on a goal by Duval (his 7th). But Calgary managed to regain the lead when Banfield notched another, this one from a hack-and-whack goalmouth scramble. With their goaltender pulled, the Bisons tied it up when James Henry pushed a loose puck under Deserres.

Overtime did not produce many high quality chances, but Walker Wintoneak pounced on a loose puck in the 3-on-3 stanza to give the Dinos the 2 points.

Here's how they lined up:

Manitoba

Goal:
35 Deckert (1 Caligiuri)

Defence:
22 Bestland - 2 Crowley
3 Mestery - 4 Schappert
6 Melnychuk - 24 Bobbee

Forwards:
23 Dittmer - 19 Duval - 26 Macaulay
9 Lowry - 21 Cowan - 10 Rowinski
15 Scott - 11 Henry - 27 Feakes
18 Kelly - 25 Ciarelli - 16 Paradis

Scratches:
G: 34 Dubyk
D: 5 Christensen - 12 Sutherland - 20 Lockerby
F: 17 Lauder - 29 Cain

Calgary

Goal:
37 DeSerres (31 Butler)

Defence:
27 Pritz - 4 Egener
22 Bartman - 17 Nyren
44 Curran - 11 Dzielski
14 Stojan

Forwards:
39 Nixon - 10 Banfield - 24 Wintoneak
13 Ismond - 25 King - 40 Stefishen
7 Ross - 12 Grant - 19 Clement
5 Gillen - 21 Myers

Scratches:
G: 1 Lazaruk
F: 18 Wiest - 29 Edwards

Luke Cain and Rylan Wiest were not dressed due to their Friday fisticuffs. When the Bisons shortened their bench in the 3rd period they kept the 1st and 4th lines intact and used Lowry-Henry-Cowan as a combination.

Next weekend Calgary plays Alberta in a home-and-home whilst the Bisons are off to Lethbridge. The Herd-Horns matchup will be available on CanadaWest.tv.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


UBC THUNDERBIRDS 3
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 4
(in shoot-out)

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of S Game Story] : [UBC Game Story]

The Banjo-Mutts had a 3-0 lead after two periods before UBC made a massive comeback. The Tweety-Birds outshot their inbred hosts 16-4 in the 3rd period and outscored them 3-0 to force overtime. The overtime produced no goals. Sask then took the shoot-out, allowing them to pull 3 points ahead of UBC and level with Manitoba in 2nd place. Sask plays Regina in a home-and-home and UBC will host Mount Royal next weekend.


LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 1
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 9

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of A Linescore and Game Story] : [U of L Game Story]

The H0rny Ones were 4 players short for this one. The Monkeys outshot them 56-15. I did not see this one on CanadaWest.tv and am thankful for that. One has to hope things go better for Lethbridge next year.


REGINA COUGARS 6
MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS 5

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [MRU Game Story] : [to be posted at U of R Site]

Round Two of the Cowtown Catfight was quite the tussle. MRU got into yet another shoot-out. The game was 4-3 for the Banjo-Cats after two. They then scored twice early in the 3rd with Ward Szucki getting his 2nd and 3rd goals of the game. Two late goals by MRU improved the look of the scoreline.

The win assures Regina of a playoff berth and eliminates MRU. Regina plays Sask and MRU visits UBC next weekend. Regina is 3 points behind UBC and finish the season against the top 3 teams in the league.

STANDINGS:

Code:

Team          W  L OL PTS J25  F1  F8
Alberta      18  4  0  36 Cal  Reg  UBC
Manitoba    13  5  4  30 Leth UBC  Reg
Saskatchewan 15  7  0  30 Reg  Cal  Leth
Calgary      14  8  0  28 Alta Sask MRU
UBC          12  7  3  27 MRU  Man  Alta
Regina      11  9  2  24 Sask Alta Man
Mount Royal  4 17  1  9 UBC  Leth Cal
Lethbridge    1 19  2  4 Man  MRU  Sask

I have added columns for each teams' remaining opponents. There are only three weekends left (January 25-26, February 1-2, and February 8-9), or 6 games per team.

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Saturday, January 19
Acadia 3 Dalhousie 1
New Brunswick 3 Moncton 2 (ot)
Saint Mary’s 4 St. F-X 5 (so)
UPEI 7 St. Thomas 2
Concordia 0 Carleton 4
Brock 3 York 4
UOIT 3 Lakehead 6
Western Ontario 3 Guelph 1
Queen’s 4 Toronto 3 (ot)
Windsor 1 Laurier 2
Lethbridge 1 Alberta 9
Calgary 3 Manitoba 2 (ot)
UBC 3 Saskatchewan 4 (so)
Regina 6 Mount Royal 5

UP NEXT:

Sunday, January 20
Ottawa at Ryerson

Tuesday, January 22
McGill at UQTR

Wednesday, January 23
RMC at Queen’s

Thursday, January 24
York at Guelph
Toronto at Ryerson

Friday, January 25
Saskatchewan at Regina
Alberta at Calgary
Manitoba at Lethbridge : CanadaWest.tv
Mount Royal at UBC : Live Audio - CITR.ca
Moncton at Acadia
St. Thomas at Dalhousie
Saint Mary’s at New Brunswick
St. F-X at UPEI
UOIT at Western Ontario
Concordia at McGill
Ryerson at Nipissing
Guelph at Brock
Toronto at Queen’s
Lakehead at Windsor
Waterloo at Laurier
Carleton at UQTR

WEEKEND PREVIEW


MANITOBA BISONS (13-5-4, 16-7-4-1, OHT35 #6)
LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS (1-19-2, 3-24-2, OHT35 #35)

Friday, January 25th, 8:00 p.m. CST @ U of L
Saturday, January 26th, 8:00 p.m. CST @ U of L

Live Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video Both Nights]

Manitoba Links:
|> [U of M Team Site]
|> [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]
|> [The Manitoban: The good, the bad, and the hockey]

Lethbridge Links:
|> [U of L Preview Story]
|> [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]

Prior Games:
|> [Nov 9: Manitoba 4-1] : [Nov 10: Manitoba 4-2]

Other Links:
|> [CIS Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links]
|> [CW Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links] : [Standings]
|> [LeagueStat Daily] : [CW Weekly Media Notes #13]
|> [Every Link Re: CIS Hockey]

The big question facing the H0rny Ones this weekend is: How many players will they have? In recent weeks they have played with as few as 16 players in their lineup. First year forward Chase Schaber has done well (8 goals and 10 assists in 19 games) and leads the team in scoring. He has missed the last 3 games with injury.

Lethbridge put in a gritty performance when they visited Friendly Manitoba in November. But their lack of finish, and skill in general, did them in. Even so, they played better than Regina. And Regina leads them by 20 points.

The standings tell us that the Bisons are favourites. The goals for and against stats tell us by how much. The Bisons have scored almost twice as many goals as the `Horns (79-40). And the `Horns have given up more that twice as many goals (115-56).

The Bisons cannot take any team lightly in their final 6 games. The `Horns have no playoffs to shoot for and, in such situations, teams try to at least pick up some wins at home. Adding to the pressure is the fact that nothing less than a 4 point weekend will do. The Herd is level with Saskatchewan and nose in front of Calgary in the race for 2nd place. They have to assume that Sask will sweep Lethbridge when they play in two weeks.

As a side-note there is one heck of a scoring race in the CW. Ian Duval leads with 30 points (7-23-30), one ahead of linemate Blair Macaulay (10-19-29). Tyler Dittmer is tied for 10th (12-10-22). The trio has combined for 29 goals thus far. The Bisons also boast three of the top 10 scorers amongst defencemen. Travis Bobbee (4-13-17) is 3rd, Jeremy Schappert (5-8-13) is 6th, and Dane Crowley (4-7-11) is 9th. Forwards James Henry (7-7-14) and Matthew Lowry (10-3-13) are also in the top 50 scorers.

At the other end of the ice the Bisons are solid in defence. Goaltender Jesse Deckert is 3rd in GAA (2.08) and 2nd in save percentage (.919). He is within range of top spot in those categories as well.

I shall be nestled into the Phone Booth watching the Jets host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night. Otherwise, I would be watching CanadaWest.tv. Lethbridge has had a rough year on the ice but their website and on-line coverage has been top notch all season.


ELSEWHERE:


SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES (15-7-0, 17-8-1, OHT35 #7)
REGINA COUGARS (11-9-2, 12-15-2, OHT35 #22)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [no on-line audio or video]
|> [U of S Preview Story] : [U of R Preview Story]
|> [Grow the Flow Video]
|> Regina Leader-Post: [January 21st] : [January 22nd]
|> Re Matt Strueby: [Darryl Wolski's Twitter] : [Elite
Prospects CIS]

Zak Stebner and four other Mangy Mutts with bad mullets will be getting haircuts for a fundraiser. Check out the video. If anybody needs a haircut, it's Stebner.

This is a home-and-home series for all the moonshine. Rumour has it that the winning school will be awarded a generous supply of store-bought toilet paper imported from Dauphin. Expect the province's best harmonica orchestra to be there, as well.

The Banjo-Cats have been the pleasant surprise in the conference this year. They were dead last in 2011-12 and did not look any better heading into this season. They looked gawd-awful in pre-season when they visited Winnipeg. For that matter, they never looked any better when they were squashed twice again on their regular season return visit. But against everybody else they have been a solid .500. In fact, they have only been swept 3 times (by Manitoba, Calgary, and Alberta). Though squashed by Manitoba, they did have an OTL against Alberta and had two very tight games against Calgary.

Moreover, the Kittens notched up a win and an OTL against the Banjo-Mutts when they met in the first half. The fact that these are rivalry games makes the results less certain then the stats and facts might suggest.

While the Kittens may talk about moving up in the standings, it must be noted that they have the toughest schedule of anybody left in the race. After Sask, they play at Alberta then close by hosting Manitoba.

The Regina Leader-Post ran a couple of stories earlier this week (see links) about the Banjo-Cats and their return to the playoffs at long last. There was no confirmation there of Matt Strueby's departure for the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL, which is listed at Elite Prospects and sourced by agent Darryl Wolski. While Strueby's stats are not enormous (5-7-12), he is the Kittens' 4th leading scorer (44th in the conference) and one of only 5 players they have in the top 50. Their top scorer is Tyler Henry (10-6-16) and he sits 30th in the conference.

Conversely, the Mutts have 8 players in the top 50, including Kyle Bortis (9-20-29) who is duelling with Duval and Macaulay for the scoring title.


ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS (18-4-0, 29-4-0, OHT35 #1)
CALGARY DINOSAURS (14-8-0, 17-11-0, OHT35 #12)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video Saturday]
|> [U of A Preview Story] : [U of C Preview Story]

This is the traditional Battle of Saudi Alberta, fought in home-and-home format. Although the Bedrock Boys have been the conference runner-up the last two seasons, they have struggled against the Evil Monkeys. Earlier this year the scores were 5-2 and 4-1.

Calgary was off to an iffy start this year. But that also described their play for most of last year. They recovered and went on a 7 game winning streak until they were blown out by the Bisons 6-0 last Friday. The Monkeys also had a 11 game win streak halted in Manitoba, and since then have started another 4 game win streak. That means they have won 15 of 16 heading into the weekend.

While Calgary still have legitimate hopes of a 2nd place finish and a quarter-final bye, they are only one point away from falling into 5th place and playing away to UBC in the quarter-finals.

Both sides have been fond of rotating their goaltenders. Both Kelly Mucha and Jacob Deserres stole OTWs for their respective teams in trips to Manitoba. Will their coaches succumb and give them both starts on the weekend?


MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS (4-17-1, 5-19-2, OHT35 #30)
UBC THUNDERBIRDS (12-7-3, 17-8-3-1, OHT35 #15)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Audio Friday]
|> [UBC Preview Story] : [MRU Preview Story]

The New Kittens on the Block were officially eliminated from playoff contention last weekend so now they enter “play-out-the-string” mode. I suspect they will be pumped to play Calgary, especially the game at the Saddledome. This weekend could be a bit of a downer.

This is a series UBC must sweep. After this they visit Manitoba and then host Alberta, so no easy points there. It has been an unbelievably long time since UBC hosted a playoff round. In 1989-90 the Tweety-Birds had a winning record and placed 3rd. They have not done that well since, placing between 5th and 7th every season. At that time only 4 teams made the playoffs, so they never hosted a playoff round that year, either. In fact, that was their only winning season, and their only finish higher than 5th, since GPAC rejoined the CW in the 1985-86 season. And it was not like they were just leaving an era of dominance. In the years of the split conferences UBC was usually 4th in a 4 team conference.

So, if UBC want to join the Big Boys of CW they must dominate the Little Guys, starting this weekend.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Tuesday, January 22
McGill 2 UQTR 3 (so)

Wednesday, January 23
RMC 2 Queen’s 1 (ot)
Toronto 1 Ryerson 3

NEWS:

Brandon Maxwell (goaltender for the Guelph Gryphons) has left school to play in the KHL. I also found some video highlights of last week's McGill win over the Patties. And, last and least(!), we have the new CIS Top Ten release.

Links:
|> Guelph: [Gryphon goalie, Brandon Maxwell signs with Russian Team]
|> McGilligutties v Patties: [Jan 16th Boxscore News Story] : [Video Highlights]
|> CIS Top Ten: [CIS Press Release] - reposted at [CW Site]

HERD HUMBLES 'HORNS


MANITOBA BISONS 6
LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 3

Links:
|> [CIS Friday Round-Up] : [CW Friday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of L Game Story] : [U of M Game Story - with stats]

They say a 5-0 lead is the worst lead to have in hockey. Well, actually they don't because that would be stupid. When one has a 5-0 lead, one can fritter most of it away and still have a comfy lead. And that's what the Bisons did on Friday night.

Since I was at the Phone Booth watching the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2, I did not catch this one on CanadaWest.tv. (BTW, the Jets were awesome. Sidney Crosby scored the first two goals of the game and then the Jets took over. The chant of the night was "Mario's Pool Boy, clap, clap, clap-clap-clap ....") Anyhoo, I am basing this on the stats.

The first thing the stats tell us is that the Bisons have apparently kept Cowan-Henry-Lowry as their second line. They were out there as a unit for three of the first four Bison goals, and for the H0rny Ones' nightcap marker. Dittmer-Duval-Macaulay were out there for one Bison goal, and the old 4th line of Paradis-Ciarelli-Kelly was out there for one of their own. The other forwards were Feaks-Rowinski-Lauder and they had no goals for or against so whether they played as a unit I cannot say. The defence was the same as against Calgary last weekend and Jesse Deckert was in goal.

The second thing is that Lethbridge was able to dress 17 players. Not a full deck but better than last weekend.

The two sides combined for 52 minutes in penalties. I suspected that the H0rny Ones would be scrappy on home ice, and that appears to have been the case. Three 'Horns had unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and Bison Darren Bestland took a 10 minute misconduct, all in separate incidents.

The Bisons' 5-goal lead came on 1st period tallies by Del Cowan (2nd), Dylan Kelly (6th), and Matthew Lowry (11th), and 2nd period markers by Jeremy Schappert (6th) and Ian Duval (8th).

One has to give Lethbridge credit for not folding the tent at that point. A pair of powerplay goals with 90 seconds gave them some hope for the 3rd. But all it did was delay the inevitable. Yes, the 'Horns scored once more, but Del Cowan's shorthanded empty-netter put it away.

Saturday's rematch starts at 7:00 MST and 8:00 CST and is available on CanadaWest.tv.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 4
REGINA COUGARS 5
(in a shootout)

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of R Game Story] : [reposted at U of S Site]

In the Battle of Banjoland the Felines defeated the Canines. Since the game featured a big comeback for the Banjocats to force a shootout, there must have been many a brown jug of moonshine gulped down in celebration. The result also allowed the Bisons to claim sole possession of 2nd place heading into the Saturday night rematches.

The Mangy Hounds held a 4-2 lead after two periods, one coming from Brennan Bosch who kept pace with Bisons Ian Duval and Blair Macaulay at the top of the scoring race. The two gioals that forced the shoot-out came only 1:01 apart in the 3rd period. David Reekie played only the 1st period for Sask, stopping 10 of 11 shots. Ryan Holfield then came on in relief.

The Kittens deserve credit for notching a victory whilst playing one man down. We'll have to keep an eye on their injury situation heading into the playoffs. One note: Regina is now within 2 points of 4th place, which would mean hosting a quarter-final series.

Saturday's rematch goes in Saskatown at 7:00 CST as the sides switch venues.


ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 2
CALGARY DINOSAURS 1

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of C Story] : [U of A Linescore]

This one appears to have been a playoff-style game. The loss is significant for the Bedrock Boys. They are now closer to 6th than 3rd. So it looks like they will be waiting the weeds for a chance at a surprise playoff run. The Evil Monkeys maintain their 6 point lead over the Bisons and appear to be a shoe-in to take 1st place now.

Saturday's rematch in Edmontown goes at 6:00 MST and 7:00 CST, and will be available on CanadaWest.tv.


MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS 4
UBC THUNDERBIRDS 3

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [UBC Game Story - with video] : [MRU News Page]

Holy crap! This was the upset of the night. The result costs the Tweety-Birds a chance to jump ahead of the Dinos in the race for 4th place.

Not that one could say UBC didn't do enough. They outshot the New Kittens on the Block 29-13 after two periods, yet trailed 4-2. The 'Birds then threw the kitchen sink at MRU in the 3rd period, outshooting them 14-1. Oddly, MRU's only shot of the 3rd period was a penalty shot. More oddly, UBC earlier had their penalty shot. Both missed.

After a 3-point weekend against Sask, UBC needed to follow with 4 points against MRU to show what they're made of. Then again, maybe they did just that.

Saturday's rematch is at 2:30 PST or 4:30 CST out in British California.

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Thursday, January 24
York 0 Guelph 4

Friday, January 25
Moncton 3 Acadia 2
St. Thomas 2 Dalhousie 5
Saint Mary’s 2 New Brunswick 4
St. F-X 2 UPEI 8
UOIT 3 Western Ontario 5
Concordia 3 McGill 2 (so)
Ryerson 3 Nipissing 4
Guelph 3 Brock 2
Toronto 2 Queen’s 6
Lakehead 3 Windsor 2 (so)
Waterloo 6 Laurier 4
Carleton 1 UQTR 5
Saskatchewan 4 Regina 5 (so)
Alberta 2 Calgary 1
Manitoba 6 Lethbridge 3
Mount Royal 4 UBC 3

UP NEXT:

Saturday, January 26
Mount Royal at UBC
Calgary at Alberta : CanadaWest.tv
Regina at Saskatchewan
Manitoba at Lethbridge : CanadaWest.tv
St. Thomas at Acadia
Moncton at Dalhousie
St. F-X at New Brunswick
Saint Mary’s at UPEI
Ottawa at UQTR
York at Western Ontario
Waterloo at UOIT
Nipissing at Queen’s
Lakehead at Windsor
Brock at Laurier
RMC at US Army [non-conference]

Sunday, January 27
McGill at Carleton
Concordia at Ottawa

SWEEP LANDS BISONS IN SECOND


MANITOBA BISONS 5
LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 1

Links:
|> [CIS Saturday Round-Up] : [CW Saturday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of L Game Story] : [reposted at U of M Site - with stats]

The Bisons dominated the H0rny Ones en route to a convincing sweep that has landed them in sole possession of 2nd place with only four games remaining in the schedule.

The Bison line-up was unchanged from Friday night. The Feakes-Rowinski-Lauder line (scoreless on Friday) was out there for the 1st goal, scored by Brenden Rowinski (his 3rd). Darren Bestland scored his 1st of the season to make it 2-0 at the 1st intermission. The Bisons outshot Lethbridge 20-9 in that period, which was basically a full night's work for goaltender Dylan Tait.

There was not enough Viagra in all of Lethbridge to allow the home side to rise to the occasion in the 2nd period. The Bisons scored three more on 23 shots on goal. Scorers were Blair Macaulay (11th), Tyler Dittmer (13th), and Del Cowan (4th).

Chris Mappin spoiled Jesse Deckert's shutout bid in the 3rd period. The Bisons outshot the 'Horns 16-11 in the 3rd, and 59-27 on the night.

There were fewer penalties than on Friday. Still the H0rny Ones lead the CW in PIMs. So pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence are in abundance. But without Cialis, it all seems to lead nowhere.

Next weekend the Bisons host UBC on Friday and Saturday nights at 7:00 CST and the games are scheduled for CanadaWest.tv according to the U of L, but not to the CW schedule page.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


REGINA COUGARS 4
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 5
(in overtime)

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of S Game Story] : [reposted at U of R Site]

There must have been a conspiracy in the Land of Gap-toothed Hillbillies. Each side got a 5-4 OTL on the weekend so that each side got 3 points. The Banjo-Cats had a 3-1 lead after two periods, yet needed a late goal to force OT.

Kyle Bortis scored for the Mangy Ones, which leaves him tied with Ian Duval and one point behind Blair Macaulay in the CW scoring race.

The Banjo-Mutts stay in 3rd place, one point behind Manitoba, and the Banjo-Cats stay in 6th, two points behind UBC. Andrew Hayes tended the Kitten goal (after Lucas Gore started Friday). Ryan Holfield was back in the Doggie goal after David Reekie played one period on Friday.

Next weekend, Sask hosts Calgary and Regina visits Saudi Alberta.


CALGARY DINOSAURS 3
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 2
(in a shoot-out)

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of A Linescore] : [U of C Story]

The Evil Monkeys dominated the stats but were unable to shake the Bedrock Boys before losing in a shoot-out. The Dinos scored on one of two shots they had in the 1st period and the Monkeys were then behind or tied all night. The shots were 38-19 in favour of the Monkeys.

Of note, the Monkeys gave Kelly Mucha both starts in goal for only the 2nd time this season. However, the Flintstone Pets switched back to Dustin Butler, even after he was yanked in Manitoba.

The bonus point allows Alberta to stay in 1st place 5 points ahead of Manitoba. Meanwhile, Calgary is in 4th place only one ahead of UBC, and 3 points in back of Sask, their next opponent.


MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS 1
UBC THUNDERBIRDS 2

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [UBC Game Story - with video] : [reposted at MRU News Page]

After being shocked by the New Kittens on the Block Friday night, the Tweety-Birds survived another scare in the Saturday matinee rematch. MRU even scored the 1st goal in this one. UBC continued to outshoot MRU the rest of the game and PP goals by Cole Wilson (14th) and Brad Hoban (11th) paced them to victory.

UBC are the Bisons' next opponent. They sit in 5th place, one point in arrears of Calgary.


R.M.C. PALADINS 1
ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS 4

Links:
|> [Boxscore/Summary]
|> [Army Preview Story] : [Army Game Story]
|> [RMC Team Site]

This game deserves some mention, since it is a very old rivalry. There is nothing about it at the CIS, OUA, or even RMC websites. So all links lead to Army. The RMC site has no news or stories, not even updated scores. In conference play, Army is 7-7-3 and they are 7-12-3 overall. RMC are 3-17-2 in conference play and 3-20-2 overall. In Army's record, they have tie games instead of OTLs.

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

St. Thomas 2 Acadia 5
Moncton 7 Dalhousie 8 (ot)
St. F-X 1 New Brunswick 2
Saint Mary’s 5 UPEI 6
Ottawa 2 UQTR 4
York 2 Western Ontario 4
Waterloo 6 UOIT 7
Nipissing 4 Queen’s 2
Lakehead 3 Windsor 6
Brock 2 Laurier 4

UP NEXT:

Sunday, January 27
McGill at Carleton
Concordia at Ottawa

Wednesday, January 30
Brock at UOIT

Thursday, January 31
Laurier at York
Queen’s at RMC
Guelph at UOIT

Friday, February 1
UBC at Manitoba : CanadaWest.tv 
Calgary at Saskatchewan : CanadaWest.tv 
Regina at Alberta : CanadaWest.tv 
Mount Royal at Lethbridge : CanadaWest.tv 
Dalhousie at Saint Mary’s
Acadia at St. F-X
New Brunswick at St. Thomas
UPEI at Moncton
Concordia at Nipissing
Laurier at Brock
McGill at Toronto
Western Ontario at Windsor
Waterloo at Lakehead
UQTR at Ryerson

WEEKEND PREVIEW


UBC THUNDERBIRDS (13-8-3, 18-9-3-1, OHT35 #16)
MANITOBA BISONS (15-5-4, 18-7-4-1, OHT35 #5)

Friday, February 1st, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Max Bell Arena, U of M
Saturday, February 2nd, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Max Bell Arena, U of M

Live Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Audio Saturday: UMFM 101.5]

Manitoba Links:
|> [U of M Preview Story]
|> [Ridley Awards] : [Claude Noel at Banquet]
|> [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]

UBC Links:
|> [UBC Preview Story]
|> [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]

Prior Games:
|> [Nov 16: UBC 5-2] : [Nov 17: UBC 3-2 (ot)]

Other Links:
|> [CIS Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links]
|> [CW Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links] : [Standings]
|> [LeagueStat Daily] : [CW Weekly Media Notes #14]
|> [Wikia.com Standings Archive]
|> [Every Link Re: CIS Hockey]

All of a sudden, the final home series of the season is upon us. The Bisons cling to 2nd place, one point up on Sask. Meanwhile, UBC is one point behind 4th place Calgary. A simple look at the standings puts it all into perspective:

Code:

                W  L OT  P Feb1 Feb8
1 Alberta      19  4  1 39 Reg  UBC
2 Manitoba    15  5  4 34 UBC  Reg
3 Saskatchewan 16  7  1 33 Cal  Leth
4 Calgary      15  9  0 30 Sask MRU
5 UBC          13  8  3 29 Man  Alta
6 Regina      12  9  3 27 Alta Man
7 Mount Royal  5 18  1 11 Leth Cal
8 Lethbridge    1 21  2  4 MRU  Sask

In 2011-12, Manitoba won all four home games against UBC, and Saskatchewan lost both home games against Calgary. But in the playoffs Sask beat Calgary in three lengthy games. I doubt that only 4 points will be awarded in that series.

The Bisons have had some of their worst games out in British California. But at home it has been a different story. Therefore the Bison target for the weekend is 4 points. They did suffer a 5-2 loss to UBC back on November 16th. But since then the Bisons have gone 9-1-3, the only regulation loss being 3-2 at Sask when they outshot their hosts 40-27.

In last week's preview I went over some stats, and those haven't changed much. However, a tight battle in a scoring race always add quite a touch to the late season. Here are the CW's scoring leaders:

Code:

                          GP  G  A  P
1  Blair Macaulay  Man  24 11 21 32
2  Kyle Bortis      Sask  24 10 21 31
3  Ian Duval        Man  24  8 23 31
4  Jordan Hickmott  Alta  24 14 16 30
5  Johnny Lazo      Alta  24 11 17 28
6  Tyler Dittmer    Man  22 13 12 25
7  Brock Nixon      Calg  24  9 16 25
8  Walker Wintoneak Calg  24 12 12 24
9  Eric Galbraith  MRU  22 14  9 23
10 Brennan Bosch    Sask  22 12 11 23
11 Brad Hoban      UBC  24 11 12 23   
12 Sean Ringrose    Alta  24 10 13 23
13 Max Grassi      UBC  24  7 16 23
14 Cole Wilson      UBC  21 14  8 22

I was going to stop at the top ten, but lots of guys are tied and I wanted to list UBC's big three scorers.

UBC is a capable side. They took 3 points off Sask two weeks ago. Yet they remain a vulnerable side, too. They dropped two points at home against MRU just last weekend. They are, in all respects, your usual mid-rank team. They are 4th in GA and 5th in GF, very mid-pack.

It has been a remarkable stretch for UBC. The top 4 in the CW get to host playoff series. UBC just failed in that goal last year. In fact, UBC has not hosted a series since the 1970s. They did finish 3rd in 1989-90. But that was during a period when only 4 teams made the playoffs, meaning they played away against Alberta (and lost 2-0). In 1974-75, 1976-77, and 1977-78 they finished 2nd, but that was in the GPAC era so the CW was only a 4 team league, and they lost to Alberta in each of those years. So the last time they hosted a series was 1970-71, when they hosted and beat Calgary in the semi-finals and then Manitoba in the final. The link to Wikia.com has links to all past CW standings.

The links include two additional stories from GoBisons.ca. First, 15 men's players got $750 awards from Mike Ridley's endowment fund. Maybe Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson will start a fund for the best fighters! Second, Jet coach Claude Noel will be the guest speaker at this year's fundraiser banquet.

This series is not listed on the CanadaWest.tv line-up. But Saturday's game is on UMFM 101.5, and on-line at the link.


Bison action from Lethbridge last weekend.

ELSEWHERE:


CALGARY DINOSAURS (15-9-0, 18-12-0, OHT35 #12)
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES (16-7-1, 18-8-2, OHT35 #6)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [no on-line audio or video]
|> [U of S Preview Story] : [reposted at CW Site]
|> [U of C Preview Story]

One would expect at least one game in this series to go into overtime. But, maybe they'll do the rest of the league a favour and decide things in regulation time. The last time they played the Bedrock Boys won 8-0 on Friday and the Banjo-Mutts took the rematch 5-4. Quite a turn-around.

Calgary is a tough call. They had a 7 game winning streak halted by the Bisons. Those 7 wins were against MRU, Lethbridge, UBC, and Regina. Still, OTWs against the Bisons and Monkeys gave them 4 points in their last 4 games.

Sask was flirting with a #1 national ranking at one time. IMO that was largely due to smoke and mirrors. They won early games against Manitoba and Alberta when they were badly outplayed. Now the worm has turned. They are 3-4-1 since Christmas, and their only regulation win came when they were outshot 40-27 by the Bisons but won 3-2. Their record could be much worse. They will be in the nationals as host. But they need to pick it up a notch otherwise they will be entering the nationals after about a month of inactivity.


REGINA COUGARS (12-9-3, 13-15-3, OHT35 #20)
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS (19-4-1, 30-4-1, OHT35 #1)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video both nights]
|> [U of A Preview Story] : [U of R Team Site]

The Evil Monkeys have a 5 point lead over the Bisons so may not be feeling a great sense of urgency in this series. The Banjo-Cats looked like crap when I saw them (twice), yet their results have been solidly mid-pack against everybody else. Also, the Kittens have guaranteed themselves a playoff spot. Will they continue to play with the edge they need to cause an upset?


LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS (1-21-2, 3-26-2, OHT35 #35)
MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS (5-18-1, 6-20-2, OHT35 #30)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video both nights]
|> [MRU Team Site] : [U of L Preview Story]

MRU has a new site. So news stories are not at a separate link from the team site. But, no preview story on it for this week.

The H0rny Ones have only one win this year - and it was against the New Kittens on the Block. These teams are both out of playoff contention. So my interest here is to see whether or not these teams look intent to close strong and maybe cost a contender valuable points next weekend.

And will Lethbridge finally get some injured players back?

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily - Wednesday]
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily - Thursday]

Wednesday, January 30
Brock 4 UOIT 1

Thursday, January 31
Laurier 3 York 1
Queen’s 7 RMC 2
Guelph 3 UOIT 6

NEWS:


The Halifax Chronicle-Herald reports that a decision on the Dalhousie case is not imminent. This must be more complicated than I thought.
Link:
|> Chronicle-Herald: [Dal men’s hockey decision not imminent]


The CIS Blog has been slow for a while but business was picking up this week, with an AUS Update.
Link:
|> CIS Blog: [AUS Update]


It looks like TRU is happy being in the BCIHL and is not interested in moving to the CIS. Good idea. While I would like there to be more teams in the CW, hockey as a whole needs the BCIHL.
Link:
|> The Omega: [WolfPack Athletics introduces new CIS programs]


The CUP has a story about the off-field problems in the CIS with hazing, drugs, and eligibility issues (a big problem in football every year). IMO, too many rules exist on eligibility issues. One set of rules for all sports would help as well.

I normally couldn't give a crap about CIS front office appointments. But the Mop & Pail story had this little blurb:

[Pierre] Lafontaine outlined his priorities as building the CIS brand and raising the profile of the organization and national championships.

One of his first priorities will be to land a new national television deal for the CIS.

The Vanier Cup national football championship is always broadcast live, but national TV coverage in other sports is almost non-existent.

Richard Peddie, the former CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, is a CIS board member at large who has been working to secure the organization a new television deal.

In an interview earlier this week, Peddie said that a new TV deal is almost in place but he was not ready to divulge any details yet pertaining to it.

“It will be a great deal for college sports in Canada,” Peddie said. “It’s a huge home run for them.”

Peddie said the new deal will not only increase television coverage of a broader range of men’s sports, but women’s university sports as well.

A CIS source said that the organization is on the verge of announcing that this year they have a deal in place for live national TV coverage of the women’s basketball championship in Regina, the men’s Final 8 in Ottawa and the men’s hockey championship in Saskatoon.

It never hurts to get some heavy hitters behind the program.

And, as usual, the only press release about hockey from the CIS was the latest official top ten (which is not as good as the OHT35).

Links:
|> Canadian University Press: [CIS athletics departments slipping ...]
|> Globe and Mail: [Pierre Lafontaine named new head of CIS] : [CIS Press Release]
|> CIS Top Ten: [CIS Press Release] - reposted at [CW Site]

BISONS BLOWN OPPORTUNITY


UBC THUNDERBIRDS 3
MANITOBA BISONS 2

Links:
|> [CIS Friday Round-Up] : [CW Friday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of M Game Story] : [UBC Game Story]
|> [Macaulay WHL Grad of the Month] : [reposted at CW Site]
|> [UMFM 101.5]

The Bisons could have taken a huge step to wrapping up 2nd place on Friday night, but blew it. There were loads of raucus rez students in attendance, as well as the Engineer's Symonized Marching Band complete with a Sasquatch, to add some atmosphere. But that was not enough to boost the Bisons.

In the 1st period the Bisons held a minor edge in carrying the play. The 1st goal came when Luke Cain outmuscled the UBC defence to slam home a rebound (his 5th). The Tweety-Birds evened the score when Justin McCrae scored (his 4th) from the slot.

After two minutes of the 2nd period James Henry scored (his 8th) to restore the Bison lead. But just over a minute later Mike McGurk's point shot must have hit a skate because Jesse Deckert appeared to jump out of the way of the point shot. It was McGurk's first goal of the season. At mid-period the Birds took the lead for the first time when Scott Wasden (his 11th) took a shot from the right wing hash marks by the boards which somehow eluded Deckert in the Bison goal. That was only UBC's 13th shot of the night, but their 3rd goal.

The abundance of goals seemed to inspire UBC. They were well behind on the shot clock but suddenly carried the play for a good period of time. In the end, shots were 21-21 headed to the 3rd.

The game turned once again in the 3rd period. UBC seldom ventured out of their end with the puck and had only one legit scoring chance. The Bisons generated a few good chances, only to be stymied by Jordan White, who was minding the bird cage.

Here's how they lined up:

Manitoba

Goal:
35 Deckert (1 Caligiuri)

Defence:
22 Bestland - 2 Crowley
3 Mestery - 4 Schappert
6 Melnychuk - 24 Bobbee

Forwards:
23 Dittmer - 19 Duval - 26 Macaulay
9 Lowry - 11 Henry - 21 Cowan
27 Feakes - 10 Rowinski - 29 Cain
18 Kelly - 25 Ciarelli - 16 Paradis

Scratches:
G: 34 Dubyk
D: 5 Christensen - 12 Sutherland - 20 Lockerby
F: 15 Scott - 17 Lauder

UBC

Goal:
30 White (35 Stanford)

Defence:
4 McGurk - 13 Schmidt
7 Wall - 15 Yee
5 Saip - 18 Manning

Forwards:
26 Hoban - 17 MacDonald - 10 Grassi
9 Wilgosh - 16 Wilson - 19 Wasden
27 Antilla - 23 Pruden - 33 Hilton
20 Hamilton - 11 Fleming - 12 McCrae

Scratches:
G: 1 Barnstable
D: 2 Smith - 6 Brkich - 8 Cumberbirch
F: 14 Kimber - 21 Wray - 22 Toye - 24 Juneau - 29 Wagner

The Bisons basically rolled four lines. The new line of Feakes-Rowinski-Cain generated some good chances. The Dittmer-Duval-Macaulay combo did not play all that much. I would expect them to play more on Saturday.

Saturday night's rematch is available on radio at UMFM 101.5 and on-line at the link.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


CALGARY DINOSAURS 2
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 1

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of S Story] : [U of C Game Story]

The Bedrock Boys went back to the 70s (aka Saskatown) and claimed two points. They took a 2-0 1st period lead and then hung n for dear life. Dustin Butler gave up only one goal on 35 shots.

The combination of results leaves Manitoba one point ahead of Sask, but Calgary is now 2 points behind and UBC 3 points behind. A win for the Bisons on Saturday would make it very difficult for anybody else to catch them.


REGINA COUGARS 0
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 6

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of A Linescore] : [check for story at U of R Team Site]

The Banjo-Cats were no match for the Evil Monkeys on Friday night. The win officially gives the Monkeys 1st place, and unofficially gives the Kitties 6th. Regina played one man short.

The Saturday rematch is available for on-line viewing at CanadaWest.tv.


LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 3
MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS 4
(in overtime)

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [MRU Game Story] : [U of L Game Story]

In the series which means nothing, the New Kittens on the Block took a double OT win over the H0rny Ones. For those of you who had Lethbridge dressing 18 players in the pool, you win! Saturday's rematch is on CanadaWest.tv.

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Friday, February 1
Dalhousie 2 Saint Mary’s 6
Acadia 2 St. F-X 3
New Brunswick 5 St. Thomas 1
UPEI 0 Moncton 5
Concordia 1 Nipissing 0
Laurier 3 Brock 2 (ot)
McGill 2 Toronto 1 (ot)
Western Ontario 7 Windsor 3
Waterloo 3 Lakehead 4 (ot)
UQTR 1 Ryerson 3

UP NEXT:

Saturday, February 2
Regina at Alberta : CanadaWest.tv
UBC at Manitoba : UMFM 101.5
Calgary at Saskatchewan
Lethbridge at Mount Royal : CanadaWest.tv
Saint Mary’s at Acadia
St. F-X at Dalhousie
UPEI at New Brunswick
Concordia at Ryerson
York at Western Ontario
McGill at Nipissing
Carleton at RMC
Ottawa at Queen’s
Windsor at Guelph
Waterloo at Lakehead
UQTR at Toronto

Sunday, February 3
Moncton at St. Thomas
Ottawa at RMC

HERD DOMINATES TO MAINTAIN GRIP ON 2ND PLACE


UBC THUNDERBIRDS 1
MANITOBA BISONS 5

Links:
|> [CIS Saturday Round-Up] : [CW Saturday Stories]
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of M Game Story - with stats] : [UBC Game Story]

On Senior Night the Bisons bounced back from a lacklustre performance on Friday night to give the Tweety-Birds a sound thrashing on Saturday night. Combined with the results on the out-of-town scoreboard, the Bisons stay one point up on the Banjo-Mutts in the race for second and the Tweety-Birds stay one point in arrears of the Bedrock Boys in the race for 4th.

The opening frame was fairly evenly contested, with shots being 10-a-piece. However, the only goal was scored by UBC when Cole Wilson scored his league-leading 15th after the Bisons missed several chances to clear a loose puck.

At the intermission I was wondering about the Bisons. They were not really being out-played over the weekend but they were not putting their foot down on their visitors, the way they have done with every opponent thus far.

All of that changed in period #2. The Bisons started on a powerplay which carried over from the 1st period. Matthew Lowry notched his 12th. Before the crowd could settle, the Bisons took a lead they would never surrender. Del Cowan used Lowry as a decoy and scored on a 2-on-1 break. Inside two minutes, and the game had turned.

Though there was no more scoring until the 17 minute mark, the Bisons were carrying the play, including on many of the abundant UBC powerplays. (BTW, each team had 7 powerplays. The Bisons went 3-for-7 and the `Birds were 0-fer.) Anyhow, Blair Macaulay deflected a Jeremy Shappert point shot for goal #3 (his 12th). Then 30 seconds later Dane Crowley's point blast needed no help finding the back of net for goal #4 (his 5th). The shots were 19-6 for the Bisons, and those accurately portrayed the flow of play. If there was a hitting stat it, too, would have been lop-sided. There were Tweety-Birds constantly getting tossed from their nests.

The 3rd period was a let-the-clock-run kind of period for the Bisons. There was occasional post-whistle shoving but mostly the Herd wanted the game over ASAP. The only goal was Tyler Dittmer's team-leading 14th when he deflected another Schappert point blast on a powerplay.

So, that's it for the Bison regular season home schedule. Gosh, that went by fast. Next weekend the Bisons will be forced to return to Banjoland's southern outpost to play the Banjo-Cats. The `Birds will be flying to Saudi Alberta to confront the Evil Monkeys.

Line-up-wise, Manitoba made no changes from Friday night. UBC added a 7th defenceman (#2 Kevin Smith) and dropped a forward (#9 Mike Wilgosh). Their forward lines looked like this:

17 MacDonald - 10 Grassi - 26 Hoban
16 Wilson - 19 Wasden - 33 Hilton
11 Fleming - 20 Hamilton - 12 McCrae
27 Antilla - 23 Pruden

Incidentally, Macaulay also had an assist and leads CW scorers with 34 points, one ahead of Primate Jordan Hickmott and three up on line-mate Ian Duval and the Mangy Kyle Bortis.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:


CALGARY DINOSAURS 0
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 3

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of S Story] : [U of C Game Story]

With 3rd place squarely on the line, the Mangy-Mutts from Banjoland's northern outpost responded with what must have been a tremendous defensive effort. They outshot the Bedrock Boys 37-17 on the night. In fact, they held the Extinct Ones to only 4 shots in a 3rd period. This shows dominance because Calgary was down 3-0 entering the period and should have been throwing everything they had at the Banjo-Mutts.

Jimmy Bubnick scored his 9th and 10th goals, and Brandon Herrod his 10th for the Gap-toothed Inbreds. Ryan Holfield recorded the shutout. Jacob Deserres started again for the Dinos.

This gives Sask a 3-point lead over the Dinos. IMO the Dinos will have waived so-long to 2nd or 3rd places and will simply want to stay in 4th so they can host UBC in the quarter-finals. Sask is off to Lethbridge next weekend, whilst the Dinos face the New Kittens on the Block in a cross-town showdown.


REGINA COUGARS 0
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 2

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of A Linescore] : [check for story at U of R Team Site]  : [U of R Friday Story]

Once website leaders, the Evil Monkeys have become laggards this year when it comes to uploading game stories. Maybe the linescore link will have added a story by the time you read this.

This series shows how a weekend sweep can be difficult. Friday was a 6-0 blow-oiut and on Saturday the Monkeys outshot the Banjo-Cats 52-19, including 14-3 in the 3rd period, yet it was only 1-0 until 16:43 of the 3rd period.

Monkey markers were recorded by Levko Koper (his 10th) and Brett Ferguson (his 8th). Lucas Gore was in Regina's goal, and Real Cyr in Alberta's. Regina lost one more player on Friday, so dressed only 18 for this one.

The Old Cougars host the Bisons next weekend, while Sask visits the H0rny Ones.


MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS 3
LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS 4
(in overtime)

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of L Game Story] : [check for story at MRU Team Site]

THE H0RNY ONES HAVE WON!!!!! Stop the presses!!!!!

As usual, the H0rny Ones played short (this time with 17 players). But they must have scrounged all the Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra they could find to get them through this one. This gives Lethbridge a 2-0-2 record against the New Kittens on the Block this year.

Now everybody is wondering if one or both of these teams will come out ready for an upset next weekend. Lethbridge hosts Sask, and MRU faces Calgary.

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Saint Mary’s 3 Acadia 0
St. F-X 2 Dalhousie 1
UPEI 2 New Brunswick 5
Concordia 4 Ryerson 5 (ot)
York 2 Western Ontario 1 (ot)
McGill 1 Nipissing 2 (ot)
Carleton 5 RMC 1
Ottawa 4 Queen’s 3 (ot)
Windsor 1 Guelph 4
Waterloo 3 Lakehead 9
UQTR 8 Toronto 2

UP NEXT:

Sunday, February 3
Moncton at St. Thomas
Ottawa at RMC

Thursday, February 7
Brock at Western Ontario
UOIT at York
Guelph at Laurier
Mount Royal at Calgary

Friday, February 8
Manitoba at Regina
Saskatchewan at Lethbridge : CanadaWest.tv
Calgary at Mount Royal : CanadaWest.tv
Alberta at UBC : Live Audio CITR
Dalhousie at Acadia
Moncton at New Brunswick
St. F-X at Saint Mary’s
St. Thomas at UPEI
Ryerson at McGill
Toronto at Ottawa
Nipissing at Carleton
RMC at UQTR
Lakehead at Brock
Windsor at Waterloo
Queen’s at Concordia

Saturday, February 9
Manitoba at Regina
Saskatchewan at Lethbridge : CanadaWest.tv
Alberta at UBC
Toronto at Concordia
Queen’s at UQTR
Ryerson at Carleton
Nipissing at Ottawa
Windsor at Western Ontario
RMC at McGill
York at Guelph
Lakehead at Waterloo
Laurier at UOIT
(end of regular season)

WEEKEND PREVIEW


MANITOBA BISONS (16-6-4, 19-8-4-1, OHT35 #5)
REGINA COUGARS (12-11-3, 13-17-3, OHT35 #23)

Friday, February 8th, 7:00 p.m. CST @ Regina
Saturday, February 9th, 2:30 p.m. CST @ Regina

Live Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [no live audio or video]

Manitoba Links:
|> [U of M Team Site]
|> [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]
|> [Manitoban: Bison men’s hockey team ...]

Regina Links:
|> [U of R Preview Story]
|> [LS Stats] : [LS Schedule/Results]
|> [Twitter] : [Facebook]
|> [Regina Leader-Post: U of R men's hockey ...]

Prior Games:
|> [Sept 15: Man 5-0] : [Sept 21: Man 6-2] : [Sept 22: Man 6-2]
|> [Nov 23: Man 6-0] : [Nov 24: Man 7-2]

Other Links:
|> [CIS Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links] : [Standings]
|> [CW Site] : [Schedule/Results/Links] : [Standings]
|> [CW Weekend Preview]
|> [LeagueStat Daily] : [CW Weekly Media Notes #15]
|> [Every Link Re: CIS Hockey]

Here we are on the eve of the end of the regular season. And the Bisons are on their way to Banjoland, this time to the southern outpost. Of course, they hope for one further trip to the Sticks (for the University Cup in Saskatown).

A weekend preview at this time of year requires a look at the standings:

Code:

  Team          W  L OT PTS PCT  GF  GA
1 Alberta      21  4  1  43 .827 110  44
2 Manitoba    16  6  4  36 .692  97  64
3 Saskatchewan 17  8  1  35 .673  92  79
4 Calgary      16 10  0  32 .615  83  62
5 UBC          14  9  3  31 .596  82  77
6 Regina      12 11  3  27 .519  69  85
7 Mount Royal  6 18  2  14 .269  68 108
8 Lethbridge    2 21  3  7 .135  51 133

The Bisons can assure themselves of 2nd place with a pair of wins over the Banjo-Cats, or fewer if Sask manages a loss in Lethbridge. Regina, however, is in 6th and staying there. So, will they have incentive? They were rolled by the Monkeys last weekend.

I have mentioned before that the Kittens failed to impress me during both trips to the Max Bell. In fact, they seemed to be the weakest opponent the Bisons faced all season. However, maybe the Max Bell is the only arena in the league without catnip. The Kittens have surprised every other team throughout the season. They were the overwhelming choice for last place in the pre-season coaches' poll. Yet here they are, in a playoff position with 13 points to spare.

The linked Leader-Post story tells how Chris Cuthbert was pushed back to play defence due to injuries. I checked my posts from the pre-season and note that he also played defence at times in those games. In any event, the story explains that the Banjo-Cats were down to two regular defencemen when they faced the Monkeys in Edmontown last weekend. According to the Regina preview story, they will have 3 of their regular 6 defencemen available this weekend.

The Kittens may also have a preference for playing the Banjo-Mutts in the playoffs. Just two weeks ago the sides exchanged 5-4 OTWs. All-in-all, the Bisons are by far the team with the most incentive.

Of note, Bisons Blair Macaulay and Ian Duval continue to fight for the scoring title. And their line-mate Tyler Dittmer is tied for the lead in goals. Check out the scoring leaders:

Code:

  Player          Team    GP  G  A PTS
1  Blair Macaulay  Manitoba 26 12 22 34
2  Jordan Hickmott  Alberta  26 14 19 33
3  Kyle Bortis      Sask    26 10 21 31
4  Ian Duval        Manitoba 26  8 23 31
5  Johnny Lazo      Alberta  26 12 18 30
6  Tyler Dittmer    Manitoba 24 14 13 27
7  Levko Koper      Alberta  26 10 15 25
8  Brock Nixon      Calgary  26  9 16 25
9  Eric Galbraith  MRU      24 14 10 24
10 Brennan Bosch    Sask    24 12 12 24
11 Walker Wintoneak Calgary  26 12 12 24

Bison home action v UBC last weekend.

ELSEWHERE:


SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES (17-8-1, 19-9-2, OHT35 #
LETHBRIDGE PRONGHORNS (2-21-3, 4-26-3, OHT35 #33)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Video both nights]
|> [U of L Preview Story] : [U of S Site]
|> [Saskatoon Star-Phoenix: [Six stars emerge ...]

The H0rny Ones finally picked up a win in a 3-point weekend last week. Will they now relax? Or will they want to go out with a bang and give the Banjo-Mutts a stiff challenge? I suspect that if they can finally ice a full roster they just might have the desire to close strong. I suspect that there will be one decisive win for the Mutts, and one toss-up game.

The six stars story is about the naming of all-time Mutt squads for each decade. The linked story is for the 1960s.


ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS (21-4-1, 30-4-1, OHT35 #1)
UBC THUNDERBIRDS (14-9-3, 19-10-3-1, OHT35 #15)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Friday] : [Live Stats Saturday]
|> [Live Audio Friday]
|> [UBC Team Site] : [U of A Team Site]

The Tweety-Birds need an upset or two if they want to reach the promised land of a home playoff series, which has not happened since 1971. The Monkeys had first place wrapped up last weekend but still found the incentive to crush the Kittens. Will they continue to play with an edge on the road in British California? Neither side has yet posted a preview story.


CALGARY DINOSAURS (16-10-0, 19-13-0, OHT35 #12)
MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS (6-18-2, 7-20-3, OHT35 #31)

Links:
|> [Live Stats Thursday] : [Live Stats Friday]
|> [Live Video both nights]
|> [MRU Team Site] : [U of C Preview Story]
|> [U of C Crowchild Story reposted at CW Site]

This Cowtown Derby will go Thursday/Friday, and the Thursday game is dubbed the "Crowchild Classic" and will be played at the Saddledome. It should be a wild scene. This is not good for the Dinos. They need the points and the New Kittens on the Block are in 7th with no hope of rising higher. Normally, there could be some letdown for the underdogs. But with a big crowd and loads of hype, the Thursday game at least becomes a bit of a toss-up.

NEWS:


Former Mutt and Team Canada coach Dave King will be at the University Cup to give out some coaching awards.
Links:
|> Dave King stories: [at CW Site] : [at U of S Site]


The CIS Blog has another AUS Update. Oddly, their teams only have one final game to play this weekend.
Link:
|> CIS Blog: [AUS Update]


The Laurentian Voyageurs will be competing in the OUA next season. So it is appropriate that they have started getting commitments from players. Alain Valiquette, former goaltender for the Urban Cowboys, is the first.
Link:
|> Sudbury Star: [Valiquette to suit up for Voyageurs]


And, as usual, the CIS released a top ten list which has a few deficiencies. Which is why the Good Lord giveth the OHT35.
Links:
|> CIS Top Ten: [CIS Press Release] - reposted at [CW Site]

CROWCHILD CLASSIC PRODUCES UPSET


CALGARY DINOSAURS 1
MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS 3

Links:
|> [LS Summary] : [CIS Boxscore]
|> [U of C Game Story] : [MRU Game Story]
|> [CIS Thursday Round-Up]

I suspected that the Bedrock Boys would at least get a scare from the New Kittens on the Block, and that is exactly what happened Thursday night at the Saddledome. The fact that the Calgary Flames promoted the game and a big crowd was drawn out made for a "big game" atmosphere.

The Dinos outshot the Kittens 14-5 in the 3rd period, but the Kittens scored the only two goals, the last into an empty net. Of note, the shots were only 14-10 after two periods. The lack of a consistent offence has hurt the Dinos.

This result means that Calgary cannot finish 2nd or 3rd, which makes Manitoba and Saskatchewan happy. It also means that Calgary and UBC will be 4th and 5th, or 5th and 4th, and face each other in the quarter-finals. UBC has received all the help they need and can claim home ice for the playoffs by beating the Monkeys.

OUT EAST:

Links:
|> [OUA LeagueStat Daily]
|> [AUS Schedule/Results Page]

Brock 4 Western Ontario 3 (ot)
UOIT 4 York 2
Guelph 0 Laurier 3

UP NEXT:

Friday, February 8
Manitoba at Regina
Saskatchewan at Lethbridge : CanadaWest.tv
Calgary at Mount Royal : CanadaWest.tv
Alberta at UBC : Live Audio CITR
Dalhousie at Acadia
Moncton at New Brunswick
St. F-X at Saint Mary’s
St. Thomas at UPEI
Ryerson at McGill
Toronto at Ottawa
Nipissing at Carleton
RMC at UQTR
Lakehead at Brock
Windsor at Waterloo
Queen’s at Concordia