Heart Riley Stotts took a welcome break from learning for a geography examination this week to debate the College of Calgary Dinos’ file 23-game successful streak in Canada West males’s hockey.
However fact be informed, Stotts would somewhat be speaking concerning the Dinos’ conflict with the College of Saskatchewan on Thursday in Sport 1 of their Canada West semi-final.
“As a workforce, we put the road in the precise place,” stated Stotts, a third-round (83rd general) collection of the Toronto Maple Leafs within the 2018 NHL draft. “We need to win the Canada West championship first after which go to nationals and win nationals.”
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Excessive objectives? For positive. However successful has develop into a behavior this season for the No. 1-seeded Dinos, who’ve by no means lifted the David Johnston College Cup regardless of capturing eight convention titles.
U Sports activities doesn’t maintain official information, however the U of C’s 23-game successful streak is believed to be the third-longest in Canadian school males’s hockey historical past.
Again in 2009-10, the College of New Brunswick received 26 straight video games. Western College posted a flawless 24-0 season in 2002-03.
“I do not assume the streak is on anybody’s thoughts anymore,” Dinos captain Noah King stated. “We simply need to win this sequence. We need to win Canada West.
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“And the nationwide title is 100 instances extra vital than the sequence at this stage.”
The Dinos magically set the Canada West file on Jan. 27 towards the Mount Royal College Cougars within the annual Crowchild Traditional.
The Crowchild Traditional takes place yearly over the sports activities of hockey, basketball, soccer and volleyball between the Dinos and native rival Mount Royal. The varsity with probably the most wins within the sequence will get a 68-kilogram cast-iron Metropolis of Calgary manhole cowl (the 2 universities are positioned simply off reverse sides of a significant thoroughfare, Crowchild Path.)
In males’s hockey this yr, the Dinos posted a 4-2 victory over the Cougars, shattering a 42-year-old Canada West file of 17 straight wins held by the legendary Clare Drake and the College of Alberta Golden. Bear over two seasons in 1978-79.
“We by no means actually talked concerning the streak till after the sport,” head coach Mark Howell stated. “Then I congratulated the fellows as a result of you understand it is an excellent achievement to go that lengthy and break a file.
“Only a super efficiency by our guys.”
The final loss for the Dinos got here again on October 14th after they absorbed a 7-3 beating courtesy of Mount Royal.
Defeats in sports activities – and in life – can result in finger-pointing or accountability. On the insistence of the teaching employees, the Dinos selected the latter.
“We had some powerful conversations,” King stated. “Everybody was given a job and knew what they needed to do. Everybody performs to their strengths, and everybody got here collectively.”
Within the health club and on the follow ice, Howell instantly seen an enormous distinction in depth and purpose.
“Our gamers are in such fine condition proper now,” stated Howell, who received a nationwide championship as a participant with the Golden Bears in 1992. “We play very quick. We glance and get on high of individuals and pressure them to show pucks over. We work onerous.
“And due to that, we will create some offense.”
Playmaker Stotts leads the way in which for the Dinos on offense with 10 objectives and 37 factors in 27 video games.
However their final line of protection — goaltender Carl Tetachuk — is an enormous purpose behind Calgary’s glowing 25-3-0 file.
“Carl Tetachuk was super,” Howell stated of the previous Western Hockey League’s Lethbridge Hurricanes and Moose Jaw Warriors goaltender. “He was regular, calm and constant.”
Tetachuk shall be referred to as upon to proceed that stellar play Thursday because the Dinos open their post-season by internet hosting Saskatchewan in a single Canada West semifinal. The College of British Columbia and the College of Alberta meet within the different recreation.
In Atlantic College Sport, UNB meets Moncton in a single convention semifinal whereas Saint Mary’s College and Acadia conflict within the different semifinal.
Additionally Concordia, UQTR, Lakehead and Windsor are all within the quarter-final sequence after incomes first-round byes.
The 2023 U Sport College Cup is scheduled for March 16-18 in Charlottetown.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
