The U of A delivered a Bear-ass whooping to the men’s hockey team this past weekend.
After coming off a so-so effort the week before, the Dinos ran into the red hot Golden Bears offence last weekend, and had no answer.
U of A forward Derek Shrum absolutely terrorized the Dinos in front of his hometown crowd of 2,793 in Edmonton on Friday night. Shrum notched the first of his four goals of the night early in the first period, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead. That goal remained the only one scored, until Shrum exploded in the third period for three more goals paving the way for the 5-2 U of A victory. Trevor Segstro and Braken Kearns were the only Dinos to bulge the twine on Friday night, as the rabid Edmonton fans got to snowshoe back to their igloos in a good mood.
On Saturday, the series shifted back to Calgary, but by the time the final outcome was clear, it didn’t seem to matter at all in the grand scheme of things. The Dinos did jump out to an early lead on Braken Kearns’ second goal in as many games, only to have that lead diminished two minutes later. The team did respond later in the period, as a Travis George point shot regained the lead. It was not meant to be, however, as the Bears kept coming at the outmatched Dinos and scored four unanswered goals to steal the greasy road win.
Calgary goalie Aaron Baker saw action in both games and faced an offensive onslaught with many of the Golden Bears’ chances coming off odd-man rushes.
With the pair of wins, U of A guaranteed themselves top spot in the conference, while the Dinos, still clinging to second place in the division slipped back down to .500. With only four games remaining until playoff time, the team is going to have to find a way to play more consistent hockey. With a couple of games against a weaker UBC squad coming this weekend, there is no better time than the present. The series with the Thunderbirds goes Feb. 7-8 at 7:00 p.m. at Father David Bauer Arena.