Late heroics lift Horns men's hockey over Dinos in OT

by Braydon Epp, U of Lethbridge Sports Info Assistant

LETHBRIDGE, AB - For the third time this season the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and the University of Calgary Dinos renewed their southern Alberta rivalry and for the third time the teams required extra time to declare a winner. The home team has taken every game so far this season and Friday night was no different with the Horns dropping the Dinos by a 4-3 score.

Adam Chorneyko (St. Albert, AB, 1st) was the hero as he walked in off of the half wall and rifled a snap shot past the glove of Dinos goalie Dustin Butler (Calgary, 2nd) and off the crossbar and in at the 3:40 mark of the extra frame for his second goal of the game. The game was extremely even as both teams put 34 shots apiece on the opposing teams goalie and much of the game was played end to end.

After an impressive debut weekend against the Manitoba Bisons, Brian Matte (Prince George, BC, 1st) continued his strong play for the Horns and almost put his new team up by a goal less than a minute into the game. Matte took the opening draw of the game and split two Dinos defenders but was unable to beat Butler with a backhander. Matte was also at it again, this time at the halfway mark of the period as he took a beautiful slap pass from Logan Lavorato (Lethbridge, 5th) but was unable to get good wood on the pass as Butler recovered the loose puck in the crease.

The Dinos eventually struck first at 14:13 of the first on a three on two rush as Curtis Senkow (Calgary, 3rd) found Luke Egener (Calgary, 1st) in the high slot and he beat Horns goalie Scott Bowles (Penticton, BC, 3rd)with a wrist shot low glove side. The Dinos kept pouring it on as less than a minute later, Reid Jorgenson (Vancouver, 3rd) forced a Horns defender to turn the puck over behind his own goal, Jorgenson found Torrie Wheat (Nanaimo, BC, 4th) in front of the goal but was turned aside by Bowles. Bowles was unable to recover the rebound and kicked out the rebound to a waiting Aaron Richards (Calgary, 4th) who put the Dinos up by a pair.

The Horns pulled within a single goal before the period was over as Mike Wuchterl (Edmonton, 2nd) tapped home a rebound off of an Andrew Gilbert (Vulcan, AB, 3rd) shot on a Pronghorns rush. The Dinos headed into the intermission with a 15-10 shots on goal advantage over the Horns in addition to their 2-1 lead.

Chorneyko scored his first goal of the game at the 7:13 mark of the second period to knot the game up at two. Chorneyko corralled a loose puck in the crease and buried it past Butler to give him his eighth goal of the campaign. Chorneyko's goal was the only scoring in the second period as the Horns outshot the Dinos by a slim 11-10 margin.

Calgary would once again regain their lead on the power play late in the third as Aaron Richards fired a shot on Bowles that the Horns goalie appeared to have covered up but Richards jarred the puck loose and managed to cross the line to give him two tallies on the night and more importantly the Dinos a 3-2 lead. Just as it looked like the Dinos would escape with a win, Brian Matte played hero as he chipped the puck to himself in behind a Dino defenseman and broke in alone on Butler. Matte held off a Dino defender and shoveled a backhander past Butler to tie the game up with a mere 43 seconds left on the clock.

Chorneyko's overtime marker improved the Horns record to 6-10-3 on the campaign and moved them within four points of the idle Saskatchewan Huskies for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Canada West conference. Meanwhile, the Dinos moved to 9-6-4 and the single point moves them into a tie for second with the Manitoba Bisons with 22 points. The Horns will look to buck the trend of the home team winning as they travel up the highway to face the Dinos at Father David Bauer Arena on Saturday night. The puck drop for that game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. MT.