The Saskatchewan Huskies improved their conference record to 4-0-0 with their second series sweep of the Canada West Hockey schedule, defeating the Manitoba Bisons 3-1 and 4-3 on Friday-Saturday, October 12th-13th at the Max Bell Arena in Winnipeg. In the process Huskies head coach Dave Adolph earned his 250th conference victory.
Saskatchewans victories over Manitoba were one of two sweeps registered in conference play on the weekend as the Alberta Golden Bears got on the winning side of the ledger with 4-3 and 4-1 victories over the Calgary Dinos in a home-and-home series between provincial rivals. The Lethbridge Pronghorns and UBC Thunderbirds split their series with the Pronghorns winning 5-1 in the series opener and the Thunderbirds earning the split with a 3-1 victory in Saturdays finale.
Non-conference play saw the Regina Cougars travel to Thunder Bay, Ontario for a series split against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. The Cougars fell 7-2 in the first game of the series before rallying with a 4-1 win in the second game. With the split by Regina, Canada West Hockey is now 3-1-0 against the Thunderwolves as Alberta skated to two wins at Lakehead on September 28th-29th.
Adolph, now in his 19th CIS season and 15th behind the Huskies bench, earned his 250th career conference victory with Saskatchewans 4-3 win at Manitoba on October 13th. The former Huskies defenceman now has a career record of 250-212-46 (.537) in 508 conference games and is the winningest coach among active CIS coaches. Adolphs 250 wins are four more than Graham Wise of the Ryerson Rams, who has a record of 246-194-55 with York and Ryerson.
In the Canada West Hockey record book, Adolph is second on the all-time wins list behind only Clare Drake of Alberta. Drake holds the record for most conference wins with 377 behind the Golden Bears bench. Adolph is also second to Drake in career conference games coached with 508 to Drakes record of 525.
The Huskies gave Adolph his 249th conference win on Friday night as Brent Twordik scored once and added an assist to lead Saskatchewan to a 3-1 win. Freshman Steven Gillen opened the scoring for the Huskies with his first career collegiate goal coming on a first period powerplay. Brad Erickson scored the game winner in the second period. Russel Monette made 26 saves in goal for the Huskies, allowing only Stephane Lenoskis third period goal as Manitoba outshot the Huskies 27-22.
Mason Wallins goal with only 30 seconds remaining in regulation broke a 3-3 tie and gave Adolph his 250th career win on Saturday. The Huskies and Bisons traded goals throughout the closely contested contest before Wallin netted the deciding goal in a 4-3 victory.
Chris Falloon paced the Manitoba offence as the assistant captain was involved in all three Bisons goals. He gave Manitoba a 2-1 first period lead and earned assists on goals by Mike Hellyer (PPG) and Nick Cowan. A trio of Huskies had two-point games as Wallin added an assist to his game-winning goal. Colin Patterson also scored once and assisted on Wallins game-winner, while Curtis Austring had two assists. Gillen rounded out the Saskatchewan scoring with his second goal in as many nights.
Freshman forward Eric Hunter scored three times to lead Alberta to its sweep of the Calgary Dinos. The first-year forward scored twice, including the game-winning goal, and added an assist in Fridays 4-3 road victory and then scored once more on Saturday as the Golden Bears completed the series sweep with a 4-1 win at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.
Alberta jumped into a 4-0 lead on Friday, scoring twice in both the first and second periods, before the Dinos rallied with three goals to make it close. Hunter and defenceman Coday Wasik gave Alberta a 2-0 first period lead and sophomore blueliner Derek Price and Hunter, with his second, made it 4-0 in the second before Drew Campbell put Calgary on the scoreboard at 8:18 of the second stanza. A