Bears draw first blood in Canada West hockey semi
Brandon Magee may have been playing his first-career playoff game for the University of Alberta Golden Bears hockey team, but he had the poise of a savvy veteran.
Magee scored twice and was the overtime hero in a 4-3 victory in Game 1 of their Canada West bestof-three semifinal series over the visiting Mount Royal Cougars on Friday night at Clare Drake Arena.
“I grew up watching the Bears, being from Edmonton, and we had a good shift where we were working hard down low. Legsy (Stephane Legault) made a great pass to me back door and I just had to put it home,” said Magee.
Legault and Tyson Baillie also scored for the Golden Bears while Tanner Olstad, Brad Kennedy and Josh Bly countered for the Cougars.
Mount Royal was one of the strongest second half teams this season and last weekend, upset the University of Manitoba Bisons. Mount Royal may be underdogs in this series, but they gave the Golden Bears everything they could handle.
They took 1-0 and 3-2 leads in the game, and the Bears had to grind out everything they could to earn the win.
Magee gave Alberta a 2-1 lead at the 12:04 mark of the second period, but Mount Royal tied it up late in the second.
Bly’s goal at the 11:07 mark of the third gave the Cougars the lead again, but just 52 seconds later Baillie tied the game again on a fortunate bounce.
Baillie capitalized on a turnover by a Cougars defenceman behind the net and jammed home the puck from below the goal line past Lanigan to tie the game with 8:01 remaining.
“We know Mount Royal is going to bring it and we were working hard right from the get go,” said Magee. “A couple bounces went their way, couple bounces went our way and at the end of the day, we were lucky to win this one.”
Brendan Burke made 17 saves in the victory, while Cam Lanigan made 32 saves in the loss.
DROUGHT OVER
The long suffering playoff losing streak to the Trinity Western Spartans has been snapped by the University of Alberta Pandas volleyball team.
For the first time in a decade, the Pandas earned a playoff victory against TWU with a straight sets (26-24, 25-18, 25-12) win Friday afternoon at the Saville Community Sports Centre.
Kory White led the Pandas with 13 kills, while rookie outside hitter Julia Zonneveld had 12 kills and 16 digs in the victory as Alberta took a 1-0 series lead in their best-ofthree Canada West quarter-final series.
“It was definitely great to break to streak. We have such a bad history with playing them in quarterfinals,” said Zonneveld. “We knew we had to come out strong, they are such a force. Even in the third set, we knew we would have to dial down and perform and finish them off.”
TARYQ’S TIME
Taryq Sani’s only in his second year with the Alberta Golden Bears, but he’s certainly blossoming into a go-to force.
Sani had 18 kills and nine digs to help the Bears beat their provincial rival Calgary Dinos in four sets (25-15, 24-26, 25-20, 26-24) victory as Alberta took a 1-0 series lead in their best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series.
Alex McMullin and Arran Chambers chipped in with 14 and 12 kills respectively.
BOUCHER COMES UP BIG
Alberta Pandas forward Amy Boucher has a knack for scoring timely goals in the playoffs. Her power-play goal with 3:18 remaining was the game-winner in a 4-1 victory over the Manitoba Bisons to give Alberta a 1-0 series lead in the Canada West semifinal.
Defenceman Taylor Kezama, tied the game at 1-1 late in the first period, and Regan Wright and Boucher added empty-netters, while Mikaela Fisher scored the lone goal for the Bisons.
Kirsten Chamberlin made 18 saves in the win.
WRESTLING FOR GOLD
The Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas wrestling teams have a chance to bring home lots of gold medals from the 2018 U Sports national championships in Sault. St. Marie, Ont.
Golden Bears wrestlers Jordan Wong (54 kg) Melvin Arciaga (57 kg), Aidan McKeage (76 kg), Nicholas Goleniec (82 kg ), while Pandas wrestler Brandy Perry (72 kg) all have chance to win national titles.