Dinos Preview: Men's hockey squad opens post-season
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Drop the puck.
Indeed, the Calgary Dinos are cruising, and that’s good news, because the Canada West men’s hockey playoffs begin Friday night.
Fresh off a couple of decisive victories over the Lethbridge Pronghorns last weekend, the Dinos welcome the Manitoba Bisons for Game 1 of the best-of-three conference quarterfinal series Friday night (7 p.m.). Game 2 goes Saturday (7 p.m.), while Game 3, if necessary, goes Sunday (6 p.m.). All games will be at Father David Bauer Arena.
Heading into the playoffs, the Dinos (18-7-3, 3rd in Canada West) will look for all-around production if they want to go deep into the post-season. Multiple players stepped up this season to make it a successful campaign. Matt Alfaro won the conference scoring title with 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists in 27 games-played), marking the first time since Ryan Annesley in 2007-08 a Dinos player has topped the scoring leaderboard. Impressive rookie seasons by Kaden Elder (13G, 8A) and Dallas Hines (1G, 12A) have been a major factor as well.
For their part, the Bisons (9-15-4, 6th in Canada West) will have to halt a recent slide which has seen them lose their last eight games. To do that, they’ll lean on their team scoring leader, Adam Henry (11G, 11A). The Bisons’ last win came on Jan. 11, when they beat the Dinos 2-1.
The winner of the Bisons-Dinos series advances to the Canada West semifinal.
— Julia Smith
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
The UBC Okanagan Heat pay a visit to the Jack Simpson Gym to close out the 2019-20 Canada West women’s volleyball regular season against the Dinos this weekend.
First serve goes at 6 p.m. Friday, with a 2 p.m. matinee start set for Seniors’ Day on Saturday.
After a split in Winnipeg last weekend, the Dinos will not qualify for the Canada West playoffs — only the top-eight teams advance, and while they can still finish in an eighth-place tie with Winnipeg, they would lose the tiebreaker in that scenario. Despite that setback, the season isn’t over, with UCalgary set to host the U SPORTS national championship March 13-15, so there’s still plenty to work towards. Head coach Natalie Gurnsey says her team is well-prepared for the challenge if they “play consistently with aggressive offence and tough serving.”
On Saturday, the Dinos will honour their senior team members in their final regular-season home game of the year. The Dinos women’s program will say goodbye to fifth-years Kate Pexman, Rachel Solecki, Beth Vinnell, Kennedy Snape, Adriel Goodman and Autumn Davidson.
— Emily Wallace
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
The Dinos men’s volleyball team, which opened this week ranked 10th in the U SPORTS Top-10 rankings, welcome the UBC Okanagan Heat this week at Jack Simpson Gymnasium to close out the regular season. The Dinos will host the Heat on Friday at 7:30 p.m. for a Valentine’s Day game, and close out the season the following day at 3:30 p.m.
After a must-win series last weekend where they picked up a pair of victories over the Winnipeg Wesmen, the Dinos punched their ticket to the playoffs. Their final position has yet to be determined.
The Dinos will look to the dynamic duo of Mac McNicol and Hamish Hazelden to deliver some power as they take on UBCO. McNicol leads the team with 235 kills on the season and has been a force on the outside for the Dinos. Hazelden suffered an injury in the fall, but has been back with a vengeance in the new year, racking up 180 kills on the season.
— Maria Dalton
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