SASKATOON — The University of Calgary Dinos men's hockey team rallied back after allowing three unanswered, to defeat the Saskatchewan Huskies 4-3 in Game 3 of the Canada West quarter-final.
Tim Vanstone and Max Patterson each scored in the third period and Brodan Salmond made 25 saves to help the Dinos come back from down a goal in the third, as Calgary punched their ticket to the conference semifinals.
"What a roller coaster game," said Dinos head coach Mark Howell. "I'm really, really happy for these guys. We've been kind of up and down all year, but we've learned lots and now we get to go to the semi's."
Roddy Ross made 25 saves for Saskatchewan, including many big ones over the course of the night, as he kept the Huskies hanging around in the hockey game, but ultimately, it was the Dinos who prevailed.
"The guys battled hard and you can't ask for much more," said Huskies defensemen Gordie Ballhorn. "We knew they were going to come up with a better effort. They're a good team and we expected them to push hard like they did and it went right down to three minutes left. We knew it was going to be tight."
The loss spells the end to the season for Saskatchewan.
"It sucks to lose this way. But looking back, it's going to be fond memories," said Ballhorn.
After it was Calgary's Connor Gutenberg who opened the scoring 4:10 into the hockey game, the visitors added another early in the second, as Riley Stotts made it a two-goal lead for the Dinos.
But then it was Vince Loschiavo who went to work just 1:13 after the Stotts tally, then added his second of the game 4:25 later to tie it up — bringing the home building to life.
Saskatchewan kept it coming in the third period. Gunner Kinniburgh scored what looked like it was going to be a game-changing goal at the 7:00 mark of the final frame, as he snuck a wrister past Salmond to give the Huskies their first lead of the night.
But said lead was short-lasted, after Vanstone made what was an unbelievable one-man effort, toe-dragging around Tye Prefontaine and tucking it home past Ross to tie the game right back up just 5:29 after the Kinniburgh go-ahead, as the fourth-year forward shifted the momentum of the contest.
"What an unbelievable move," said Howell. "It just gave us belief and hope again."
"Number one forsure," said Vanstone, when asked about where the goal ranks for him all-time. "The timing of it. The finish. It's something I'll definitely take to the next round."
Vanstone delivered the equalizer, then Patterson got the go-ahead. The first-year forward's redeflection from the slot found the back of the net, giving the Dinos the lead with just 3:53 remaining. Calgary was able to fend off a flurry of Saskatchewan scoring chances on a last minute powerplay to escape with the series win.
With the win, the Calgary moves on to face the Alberta Golden Bears in next week's Canada West semifinal, with the winner punching their ticket to the University Cup, which is scheduled to get underway Mar. 31 at Acadia University in Wolfsville, N.S.
Next weekend's semifinal series gets underway on Friday night at Clare Drake Arena. All the action can be seen on CanadaWest.TV presented by Co-op.
"It's exciting. We're definitely going to enjoy this one, come back on Monday with the day off, then Tuesday start back up and get focused on Alberta," said Vanstone.
