Canada West Semi Final: Tyler's timely goal gives Alberta series sweep of Calgary

by Paul Cartledge, U of Alberta Sports Info Assistant

Archive photo courtesy Uwe Welz / U of Alberta Athletics

EDMONTON - A late goal by the No. 1 University of Golden Bears finally overwhelmed the sensational puck-stopping of third-string University of Calgary Dinos, Nathan Deobald, and cemented a best-of-three series sweep for the home team with a 3-1 win, Saturday night at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.

With Dustin Butler (2nd, Calgary) out with an injury and Jeff Weber (5th, Ottawa) suspended for rough play the previous evening, the goaltending duties fell to Deobald (4th, North Battleford, SK), who last played with the Mount Royal Cougars of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC).

Equal to the task, the 5'9", 175 lb. netminder used the showcase to make several ten-bell saves throughout the game to keep the Dinos within a goal or less until the final seconds.

The Golden Bears got to him early, though, when Eric Hunter (3rd, Oakbank, MB) crossed the Calgary blueline, cut into the middle of the slot, and ripped home a wristshot high into the center of the net at the 3:51 mark of the first period.

The Dinos began to shift their momentum in their favour in the second before Alberta's second-leading scorer during conference play, Derek Ryan (3rd, Spokane, WA), was left open in the Calgary slot, only to be thwarted by Deobald's stacked pads to keep the score 1-0.

It was then up to freshman puck-stopper Travis Yonkman (1st, Saskatoon, SK) to stem the turning tide, as he stopped a tipped point shot from Aaron Richards (4th, Calgary) on the power-play before stoning him on his follow-up backhand on the rebound.

The Calgary pressure ensued, however, and Teegan Moore (3rd, Thompson, MB) was able to put his own backhand in on the same man-advantage to knot the score up at one.

In the final frame, Alberta regained the momentum but another Ryan shot was dramatically snatched out of the air by Deobald and a third met the 27-year-old's stacked pads yet again with about 9:20 left to go.

Former Saginaw Spirit Jesse Gimblett (4th, Newtonville, ON) was sent in alone two minutes later but he rang the puck off the crossbar behind Deobald.

Leading the team in scoring in game one with three points, Greg Gardner (2nd, Cold Lake, AB) fed team captain Tyler Metcalfe (5th, Headingley, MB), who dangled the puck on his stick before shooting a backhand high with 3:47 remaining on the score clock. Gardner would salt away the game with his third of the post-season into an empty net.

The Dinos finished 1-for-4 on the night and outshot Alberta 30-29 while the Bears went 0-for-1 on special teams.

Alberta awaits the winner of the Manitoba/Saskatchewan semi-final, currently tied at one game apiece, before hosting them in a best-of-three Canada West championship at Clare Drake Arena, the first game going on Friday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m. MT.

Game Notes
Edmonton Oiler assistant coaches Tom Renney and Wayne Fleming were in attendance at Saturday's hockey game... Renney was Director of Player Development with the New York Rangers while Eric Hunter was in the New York Rangers system.