Ice Bears ready to return home

Danielle Jenson

HOME COOKING The Bears return to Clare Drake Arena for the first time in two weeks, to face provincial rival Calgary.

After two weekends on the road, the Golden Bears hockey squad returns to the friendly confines of Clare Drake Arena this weekend for a pair of games against the Calgary Dinos.

Back-to-back road sweeps over the UBC Thunderbirds and the Lethbridge Pronghorns improved the Bears record to 10–1–1, stretching their lead in the Canada West to four points over second-place Manitoba.

Alberta, the number-two ranked team in the nation, comes into the weekend riding a season-high five-game winning streak, thanks in large part to the conference's top power play.

The Bears have been lethal with the man advantage all season long, clicking at 41.7 per cent through 12 games. The power play clicked at over 50 per cent on the Bears’ recent road trip, as head coach Eric Thurston's crew went a remarkable 13-for-21 on the man advantage against UBC and Lethbridge.

"One thing that I've really been impressed with on our power play is that when we lose the puck, our puck pursuit has just been tremendous," Thurston said.

"It's something that we're going to continue to work on, and I think if you stick to fundamentals and let your skilled players be skilled guys — move the puck, understanding they have to shoot with traffic in front — with those principles, you'll have success."

When the Bears and Dinos met earlier in the season for a home-and-home series, Calgary kept Alberta's power play in check for the most part, holding the Green and Gold to three power play goals on 14 chances over the course of two games. The Bears and Dinos split that weekend series, with the Bears suffering a 3–2 shootout loss in Calgary, before bouncing back at home with an impressive 9–2 victory.

It was a season to forget in Cowtown last year, as the Dinos missed the playoffs for the first time in over two decades, but that's well in the rear view mirror for this edition of the Dinos, as they’ve been a vastly improved hockey squad to start the year. Former Bear Mark Howell has guided Calgary to a 6–2–2 record in his first season behind the bench as head coach.

"They're strong system-wise; they're going to try to and outwork you, be tough on the attack by driving the lanes and getting pucks to the net, but our focus is to play hard and smart against them."

After letting Calgary, at times, dictate the pace of the game in the two teams first meeting of the season back on October 9 in the Stampede City, a key for the Bears will be to maintain their up-tempo game.

"We have to play to our tempo and our level. When we do that, we have more than a fair chance to win. It's a tough thing for teams to do — to play to our level and our tempo."

The weekend series will be the Bears’ final home games of the first half of the regular season, as both games get underway at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday night at Clare Drake Arena, with the games broadcast online at www.bears.ualberta.ca.