Alberta Golden Bears 2019-20

[Bob Stauffer]

Alberta sweeps #5 ranked Calgary 4-3, and 6-1 on the weekend to run their record to 9-1 in Canada West Play and 15-3 overall.
The #2 ranked Bears played the series without their top 2 returning scorers from last season; Trevor Cox and Cole Sanford who were both out with injury.
Chad Butcher made his much awaited debut and had 1-1-2 in both games to pace the Golden Bears attack.
Dawson Davidson a 70-point defenceman with Saskatoon last season had 3 assists on Saturday night with Grayson Pawlenchuk adding two goals.

Alberta hosts Regina next weekend

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Went to second game of the Regina-Alberta series at Clare Drake Arena on Saturday night.
It was ugly!
Golden Bears routed the Cougars 9-0 after Regina fought hard in a 4-2 loss on Friday night.
Bears outshot Regina 54-19, and basically called off the dogs up 8-0 after 2.
Alberta had 15 of 18 skaters pick up points, and the Golden Bears now have a 51 game winning streak over the Cougars.
Right now Grayson Pawlenchuk might be the best player in the Canada West. he had 8 points over the weekend.
Chad Butcher was quite impressive, he had 1-1-2 and now has 8 points in 4 GP since becoming elighible after playing parts of 2 seasons in the Minors.
Butcher's former Medince Hat teammate Cole Sanford returned from injury and added 3 assists. He has 0-8-8 in 4 GP.
Tyler Soy was suspended for the series and Trevor Cox missed both games due to a lower body injury.
Both will play in Alberta's top 6 when they return.
Alberta is 11-1 in Canada West play and 17-3 overall; they travel to Manitoba for a series next weekend.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Alberta improved to 12-1 in Canada West Play and 18-3 overall with a 2-0 shutout over Manitoba Friday night in Winnipeg.
Manitoba goalie Tyler Brown was stellar stopping 45 shots prior to being pulled late in the 3rd for the extra skater.
Curtis Miske, the Golden Bears 4th line C, was the only man to beat Brown prior to Steve Owre's empty-netter.
I thought the Bears were sloppy and frankly lackadasical, especially on a 5v3 that featured 5 forwards as PP QB Dawson Davidson was not available after earning a 1-game suspension for a fight vs Regina.
Ian Herbers team has tended to play much better on Saturday night's this season.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Alberta drops a 5-3 decision in Winnipeg to Manitoba on Saturday night and are now 12-2- on Conference play and 18-4 overall.
Watched the first 35 mins of the game before the Oilers game in VGK and it was not impressive.
Matt Berlin had a tough start and gave up 4 goals and got pulled.
Golden Bears outshot the Bisons 33-13 but that was misleading.
The Bears have a lot of skill but were lacking will in BOTH games in Manitoba scoring just 5 goals on 80 SOG.
Too much perimeter. Too passive on the PP, especially on 5v3's.
Historically the Golden Bears have had a lot of splits in Winnipeg dating back decades.
Frankly I've always felt like the Bears lacked passion playing in the 'Peg.
On paper Mike Sirant has had better teams than this season, but to me the Bisons seemed more committed than Alberta this weekend.

 

[Hollywood3]

Alberta drops a 5-3 decision in Winnipeg to Manitoba on Saturday night and are now 12-2- on Conference play and 18-4 overall.
Watched the first 35 mins of the game before the Oilers game in VGK and it was not impressive.
Matt Berlin had a tough start and gave up 4 goals and got pulled.
Golden Bears outshot the Bisons 33-13 but that was misleading.
The Bears have a lot of skill but were lacking will in BOTH games in Manitoba scoring just 5 goals on 80 SOG.
Too much perimeter. Too passive on the PP, especially on 5v3's.
Historically the Golden Bears have had a lot of splits in Winnipeg dating back decades.
Frankly I've always felt like the Bears lacked passion playing in the 'Peg.
On paper Mike Sirant has had better teams than this season, but to me the Bisons seemed more committed than Alberta this weekend.

I was at both games. I quoted the Bisons/Monkeys stats in the Bison thread. Yes, the SOG were misleading. Offensive zone face-offs were fairly even, though I do not know where they keep those stats. As for Berlin in goal, he never had many shots but those he had were really tough plays.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

The #2 ranked Alberta Golden Bears swept UBC this weekend (5-3, 5-1) to close out the first half of their season with a 14-2 Canada West record, 20-4 overall.

The Bears out shot UBC 40-16 on Friday night as Cole Sanford, Chad Butcher and Steve Owre all former high-scoring Medince Hat Tigers paced the attack with 1-1-2.
In the 5-1 victory Bears outshot the T-Birds 41-23 as Curtis Miske scored twice and Butcher added 1-1-2.
Butcher is making the expected impact since becoming eligible as he now has 12 points in 8games, Sanford who has dealt with injuries now has 13 points in 8 games.
Grayson Pawlenchuk continues to lead the team in scoring with 11-10-21 in 16 games.
The Golden Bears have a +42 goal differential but need to improve their PP which currently sits 5th in the Conference.
Alberta is the #1 defensive team in Canada West yielding under 2 goals against per game and has the top PK unit

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

I don't see much of a change in CanadaWest. Alberta, certainly with the most talented lineup and the most consistent. Barring a major upset, a lock to make it to Halifax!
IMO, USask looks to be back on pace, but I don't think they are as good as the last few years. Time will tell, if Mount Royal or Calgary make it to Halifax??? Home ice is going to be key among those three teams, come playoff time. One thing is certain, avoid Alberta in a second round playoff, which in my opinion, will become a death sentence playing a best of 3 in Claire Drake Arena.
Calgary or Mount Royal will need to finish ahead of the Huskies to gain the advantage here.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

The split with U of S is no surprise, but the the score in game 2 (5-0) tells me that goaltending may be an issue? Matt Berlin with both starts this weekend, maybe Burke was unavailable??

 

[FreddyFoyle]

The split with U of S is no surprise, but the the score in game 2 (5-0) tells me that goaltending may be an issue? Matt Berlin with both starts this weekend, maybe Burke was unavailable??

Well Burke was the 3rd goalie at the Spengler Cup, so maybe he had a late Christmas / New Years and wasn't back with the Bears yet?

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Well Burke was the 3rd goalie at the Spengler Cup, so maybe he had a late Christmas / New Years and wasn't back with the Bears yet?

Yes, I figured that's why Matt Berlin played both games. He did have a shut out Friday night, in a 3-0 win, but not many shots from the Huskies on that night.

 

[Hollywood3]

Yes, I figured that's why Matt Berlin played both games. He did have a shut out Friday night, in a 3-0 win, but not many shots from the Huskies on that night.

Burke was likely jet-lagged. Also, the Monkeys gave up all sorts of breakaways and threw in the towel.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Power outage for Golden Bears in Saskatoon!
Bears dramatically outshot Saskatchewan in both games: 49-18 and 35-22, but a combined 0/11 on the PP killed their chances for a sweep.
Alberta is too perimeter, and too soft on the PP.
Until they committ to getting pucks on the net, and attacking and outmaning teams with the extra man; they will continue to not live up to the potential the team has...something that could ultimately cost them a National Championship!
Nonetheless they are still 15-3 in Canada West Play and 24-5 overall

 

[Hollywood3]

Power outage for Golden Bears in Saskatoon!
Bears dramatically outshot Saskatchewan in both games: 49-18 and 35-22, but a combined 0/11 on the PP killed their chances for a sweep.
Alberta is too perimeter, and too soft on the PP.
Until they committ to getting pucks on the net, and attacking and outmaning teams with the extra man; they will continue to not live up to the potential the team has...something that could ultimately cost them a National Championship!
Nonetheless they are still 15-3 in Canada West Play and 24-5 overall

Too many little monkeys. They could use a big gorilla.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Alberta sweeps a pretty good Mount Royal team with an 8-2 victory in Calgary on Friday and a 7-3 win in Edmonton Saturday to improve to 17-3 in Canada West Play and 26-5 overall.
Was in Calgary with the Oilers Friday so I went to the game in Cowtown.
After being shut-out 5-0 in Saskatoon the Saturday before...the Bears came out firing early.
They took the puck hard to the net and scored on their first two shots on goals from Taylor Cooper and Lucas Nickles.
Late in the first Cole Sanford walked the Mount Royal D at the blue line and scored a beauty to make it 4-1.
Bears built up a 7-1 win the 2nd en route to an 8-2 win with eight different goal scorers.

Watched a wild 1st period Saturday night before the wild Oilers-Flames game.
Sanford struck for a 1st period Hat-Trick as Alberta jumped out in front 4-1, and then saw MRU close to 4-3.
At the stage HC Ian Herbers pulled starter Brendan Burke.
Golden Bears added another two goals in the FIRST period to lead 6-3 after one.

The line of Sanford (3-1-4) Noah Philp (1-3-4) and Trevor Cox (0-4-4) combined for 12 points in the 7-3 win.
Ironically Philp was on the line because Chad Butcher is out with an upper body issue after taking a cheap hit vs Saskatchewan in Alberta's 3-0 win last Friday.

With the two wins and a Calgary loss vs Manitoba the Golden Bears now lead the Canada West by four points with 8 games left in the regular season.

PRO Update:

Noah Philp's older brother Luke is going pretty good with Stockton in the AHL.
After being held pointless in his first 9 games in the AHL recovering from a broken ankle suffered in last year's U Sports final...the 2018-19 U Sports Player of the Year has 15-7-22 in his last 22 AHL games.

Yesterday Luke faced a former Golden Bears teammate as Stockton played SJ Barracuda and former Golden Bears netmider Zack Sawchenko got the call in between the pipes.

Zachchenko took the loss in a 2-0 Stockton win. He is 2-1, 1.98 GAA and a .931 svp in the AHL this season since being recalled from the ECHL

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Alberta sweeps Lethbridge 4-2, 10-1 to improve to 19-3 in Canada West play and 28-5 overall.
Friday, Pronghorns goaltender Jack Burgart, an NCAA transfer was brilliant for the 'Horns making 43 saves in a losing cause.
The 'Horns were up 2-1 in the 2nd before Alberta eventually took over the game.
Chad Butcher; who got knocked out of the Saskatchewan series on a cheap hit early in the first of two games played between the two teams a couple of weeks ago, paced the Bears attack with 1-1-2 in the victory.
Butcher is the Golden Bears version of a Brayden Point. A quick, skilled, 5'11" right shot center.
He had a 103 point season in the WHL and has 6-9-15 in 11 GP this season.
Wouldn't surprise me in the least if he wins the Conference scoring title next season.
Saturday the Bears struck on the first shift and never looked back.
Tyler Soy, who had 85 and 92 point seasons in the WHL for Victoria, set up Ryan Jevne on a 2-on-1 and the Bears were off and running.
Alberta scored four in the first chasing Burgart, and routed Lethbridge, outshooting them 57-18.
Soy finished with 2-2-4, while centering Alberta's 4th line.
Steven Owre had a hat-trick, and Grayson Pawlenchuk added 4 assists.

The Golden Bears have a home-and-home with Calgary coming up
Alberta remains four points up on Saskatchewan who blanked Calgary twice on the weekend in Calgary to move into sole possession of 2nd place.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Surprised by Calgary sweeping the Bears, this gives Howell some confidence, if the two teams meet in the CanadaWest playoffs. As for Alberta, the goaltending situation looks to be inconsistent. Will they go with Berlin down the stretch?

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Has it been awhile since Alberta went 0 for the weekend?

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Surprised by Calgary sweeping the Bears, this gives Howell some confidence, if the two teams meet in the CanadaWest playoffs. As for Alberta, the goaltending situation looks to be inconsistent. Will they go with Berlin down the stretch?

Then again, if the season plays out with the standings remaining the same, Calgary and USask may be on a collision coarse, with the Bears avoiding both until a CanadaWest final. If so, they would have already punched their ticket to Halifax.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Golden Bears earned what they got this weekend..Nothing!
Alberta has more skill, but showed less will than Calgary...and the Dinos had the better goaltending in both games.
Friday the Bears basically put two pucks in their own net...Saturday...total refusal from Alberta's top end guys to take it to the net and create chaoes.
Learning tool for a young Golden Bears squad...who drop to 19-5 in Canada West play

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Alberta closes out their Canada West regular season road schedule with a weekend sweep 6-3, 6-1 vs over-matched Regina.
Simply put, you can't win vs elite USports teams with Jr' A. players and that is what Regina is bringing to the party.
Alberta outshot Reigna 43-10 and 41-13...these games weren't close; as the Bears finished 11-3-0 on the road.
In fairness the Golden Bears have yet to yield over 30 SOG against all season in Conference play, Alberta has also fired 40+ SOG in 13 of 26 GP this season.
The 21-5 Bears host Manitoba this weekend at Clare Drake Arena where Alberta is 10-2-0 in Conference play, if Alberta sweeps the series they are guaranteed home-ice advantage in the Canada West Play-offs.

A couple things to watch for moving forward.
#1. The Golden Bears PP remains an enigma.
Alberta is currently 4th in the Conference at 20.7%. Not good enough. The team has 16 different skaters that have PP points. Not sure a #1 or #2 unit has been established.

#2. Make a stop!
Bears goaltenders need to play. Alberta's #1 netmider Brendan Burke has had a tough season. He is 12-1 but with just an .885 SVP.
Matt Berlin has gone 9-4, with an 1.85 GAA and a .910 svp but gave up 3 goals on just 10 SOG Friday night in the Bears 6-3 win.

 

[Drummer]

#2. Make a stop!
Bears goaltenders need to play. Alberta's #1 netmider Brendan Burke has had a tough season. He is 12-1 but with just an .885 SVP.
Matt Berlin has gone 9-4, with an 1.85 GAA and a .910 svp but gave up 3 goals on just 10 SOG Friday night in the Bears 6-3 win.

Welcome to the UNB Goalie Dilemma - learning how to be in nets when you don't move for 5-10mins at a stretch then have to be at 100% laser focused for 2secs. You're cold, stiff and cramping up just standing around, then have to be at your best in a moments notice. It takes UNB's goalies a season or two to adapt. Harvey has done a good job this year for a guy who use to see a lot of rubber and now sees less than 18 shots a game.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Bears sweep Manitoba (8-0, 5-2) en route to clinching 1st overall with a 23-5 record.
Went to Friday's game.
Alberta dominated. They were quick on pucks, disciplined and relentless and obliterated the Bisons in very facet. Scoring chanches were about 15-2. Bisons netmider Tyler Brown battled or it would have been worse.
Only saw the 2nd period on line after the Oilers game on Saturday, it was more competitive.
Golden Bears activated Luc Smith who has been out all season with a knee injury.
Smith, is a 6'4" right shot C who scored 21 and 28 goals in his last two seasons in the WHL.
I think he will be remaining in the Bears lineup in the playoffs.

Bears now have a bye and await the winners of Calgary-Manitoba and Mount Royal-UBC.
I will take Calgary and Mount Royal both in sweeps; in this scenario Alberta would host Mount Royal

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Golden Bears are on the Ropes!

Jerrett Smith scored 8 minutes in OT and Rylan Toth made 51 saves as UBC takes a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three with a 3-2 OT win Friday night at Clare Drake Arena.
All season long we have talked about the Bears needing to get greasier, especially on the PP...and needing a stop.
Alberta lost the special teams battle and goaltending match-up...outshooting the T-Birds 53-17.
Game 2 goes tonight.
An Alberta loss and the season is over!

 

[Rob]

Golden Bears are on the Ropes!

Jerrett Smith scored 8 minutes in OT and Rylan Toth made 51 saves as UBC takes a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three with a 3-2 OT win Friday night at Clare Drake Arena.
All season long we have talked about the Bears needing to get greasier, especially on the PP...and needing a stop.
Alberta lost the special teams battle and goaltending match-up...outshooting the T-Birds 53-17.
Game 2 goes tonight.
An Alberta loss and the season is over!

Considering the disparity in shots on goal I would be surprised if the T-Birds can pull off another win. Still I would be nervous.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Considering the disparity in shots on goal I would be surprised if the T-Birds can pull off another win. Still I would be nervous.

Highly unlikely, but it can happen, especially if the goaltending struggles.