CIS men's hockey Friday roundup: Dinos go on the road to defeat Bisons, Lazo's hat trick leads Bears to win

WINDSOR, Ont. - The Lancer men's hockey team dropped a 5-2 decision to the Western Mustangs on Friday night at Windsor Arena in game two of the Western Conference Finals.

The best of three series is now tied a 1-1, with game three being played on Sunday at 7:30pm in London at Thompson Arena.

After a scoreless first period, Western's Shaun Furlong and Andrew Eastman scored ten minutes apart in the middle frame to carry a two-goal lead heading into the third period.

Kevin Baker scored Western’s third goal four minutes into the final frame before Tom Craig deposited Windsor’s first goal five minutes later for a 3-1 game.

Baker and Craig each added second goals before Zach Harnden netted an empty net goal with 1:01 remaining in the game.

The series shifts back to London for the series deciding game three on Sunday night. Puck drop is set for 7:30pm at Thompson Arena. Fans can buy tickets by calling the Mustang box office at 519-661-4077, or can catch the game live on www.ssncanada.ca.

Source: Windsor Sports Info

WINNIPEG - Despite posting a 5-0-1 record over the University of Calgary Dinos through the regular season, the University of Manitoba Bisons men’s hockey team took a heartbreaking 2-1 regulation loss to them in the opening game of the Canada West division semi-final.

Although they were the heavy odds-on favourite, and playing inside the hallowed halls of the Max Bell Centre in Winnipeg, Calgary’s net minder Dustin Butler stood on his head to allow his team to pull out the shocking victory.

“It’s disappointing, we can’t expect too much when we take on so many penalties,” said Bisons captain Mike Hellyer after the loss. “We were in the box for a third of the game and it kind of killed a lot of the momentum.”

“It was a hard-fought, close game, and that’s what we expected from Calgary,” said Bisons head coach Mike Sirant. “Tomorrow we’ll draw on tonight’s experience.  This was our first playoff game together as a group, and everybody wants to win and wants to win badly. So we’ll draw on our first playoff game here tonight, and be better tomorrow.”

The Dinos’ goals were scored by Reid Jorgensen and Blake Clement, and goaltender Dustin Butler made 32 saves on the evening.

Manitoba’s only goal was netted by Jared Walker on a highlight-reel breakaway move, and goalie Joe Caligiuri made 28 saves.

The first period was all about defence, as both teams had great opportunities to get on the board but more shots were being blocked and deflected than were getting on net.  Both teams brought the physical game as was expected with the high-stakes playoff atmosphere.

The Bisons enjoyed four power plays in the first, but couldn’t manage to capitalize on a single one.  Calgary enjoyed a few man-advantages of their own, and as the opening period concluded with no score for either team, the Dinos had about 40 seconds of a power play to work with to open the second.

After posting a sensational regular season record over Calgary, the Bisons looked to be almost caught off guard by their opponents coming into the second period, and simply didn’t know how to handle them.

Just as Manitoba’s penalty was coming to an end in the opening minute of the second, Reid Jorgensen got his stick on the puck during a scrum in front of the Bisons’ net, and on their first official shot of the period, Calgary took a 1-0 lead.

Despite four penalties to the Dinos and five to Manitoba, neither team could manage a goal with the man-advantage, as had been the story all game long.  The Bisons only managed a couple of shots on goal until the final minutes of the third period, as Calgary continued to throw bodies and sticks in front of pucks, and prevent shots from getting through to the net.

It was obvious that Manitoba would need to adjust their game plan in order to come away with a win, but they simply weren’t able to do so before the horn sounded to end the second, with the Dinos ahead on the scoreboard.  Down 1-0 at the end of two, the Bisons needed to come into the third with a brand new game plan if they wanted to take the lead in this series.

Manitoba looked strong coming into the third period, generating a quick few shots on net, which was a nice change from the last two periods, in which they struggled to generate much offense.

Things took a turn for the worst though, when the Dinos’ Blake Clement lobbed a shot toward Manitoba’s goalie Joe Caligiuri, in order to get a line change, but Caligiuri mishandled the puck, and it trickled through his five-hole and into the cage, putting Calgary up 2-0 early in the third.

With less than three minutes left in the game for the Bisons to try and make up the deficit, Jared Walker was hauled down on a breakaway, and Manitoba would have a shorthanded penalty shot to get within a goal.

Walker came in slow on Butler and pulled a spin-o-rama at the last second, burying a backhand shot into the open net, getting his team to 2-1 with a few minutes left in the period.

In the end, the soft goal let in by Caligiuri was the game-winner, as Manitoba couldn’t tie things up before the end of the period, completing the monumental upset for the Dinos, who took the 2-1 win in regulation.

The “best of 3” series between the two teams continues Saturday, March 3, at 7 p.m. as the Bisons try to stave off an early elimination in the Max Bell Centre.

Source: Manitoba Sports Info

EDMONTON – In a captivating three-goal, four-point effort in the first period, sophomore Johnny Lazo led the No.5 Alberta Golden Bears to a 7-3 victory over the No.7 Saskatchewan Huskies, earning a 1-0 lead in the Canada West best-of-three semi-final series, Friday night at Clare Drake Arena.

Kruise Reddick, a freshman from Manor, SK, added two goals and an assist while blueliner Ian Barteaux notched a pair of tallies in the third.

Fourth-year forward Chris Durand had three points on the night for the Huskies with a goal and two assists, linemate Michael Kaye putting up a goal as well as an assist, and third-year Brenden Dowd rounded out the scoring with a single.

Lazo got started immediately, snapping a shot just after the first faceoff in the Saskatchewan end, ringing the puck off the near post and just inside the far one only 13 seconds into the game.

The Winnipeg, MB native then found Reddick for a cross-crease tap-in at the 3:03 mark of the first period, the fellow former Tri-City American returning the favour when he sent Lazo in on a partial breakaway four-and-a-half minutes later.

Moments after he returned to the ice from a penalty, the 5’7” speedster fought off his check and squeaked a shot underneath a sprawled-out David Reekie, giving Alberta a 3-0 lead only 7:43 into the game.

Completing the hat trick at 11:07, Lazo blew past a Saskatchewan defender at centre, drove towards the net at the halfboards, and powered the puck through Reekie for the eventual game-winner.

Before the period was over, however, Durand would reply for the Huskies with 46.4 seconds left, pouncing on a loose puck after an Alberta defensive miscue to fire it glove side on netminder Réal Cyr.

The goal would sway some of the momentum in Saskatchewan’s favour in the middle frame but its offensive pressure was met by an Alberta defence that kept them to only five shots before the Huskies could crack through on the power-play, Dowd shoveling in a loose puck in front at 13:18 of the second.

Heading into the third only down 4-2, Saskatchewan also survived 1:52 of a Golden Bears five-on-three early in the final frame, but Barteaux increased the lead to three at even strength when he tapped in the rebound of a James Dobrowolski shot at the 6:04 mark.

Reddick then potted his second on the man-advantage, salting away the game one victory while Kaye and Barteaux traded goals late.

Alberta finished the night 2-6 on the power-play while the Huskies finished 1-5.

Game two of the best-of-three series will go tomorrow evening at 7 PM MT.

Source: Alberta Sports Info