From: Calgary Sun by Wes Gilbertson
The Calgary Dinos men's hockey squad is hoping to open the season on a Rocky Mountain high.
While most of their Canada West foes face off against conference rivals, the Dinos are jetting south for a three-game road swing, where they'll test their mettle against the Colorado College Tigers, University of Denver Pioneers and Air Force Falcons.
"It's quite an opportunity to really put our skills and our team to the test," said first-year winger Tyler Swystun.
"We have to get used to winning two games a weekend in our regular season, so this is a great chance for us to go down there and pull out at least a couple wins. If that happens, I think we'll bring a lot of confidence back to Canada for the start of our season."
Instead of watching the ticker for results, they'll be going toe-to-toe against a trio of top-notch college programs and getting a sneak peak of some of the sport's rising stars.
Led by Calgary's Joe Colborne, a first-round selection of the Boston Bruins and a candidate for Canada's world junior squad, the Pioneers were ranked second in the U.S. collegiate hockey pre-season poll.
The Tigers and Falcons are perennial playoff teams.
It's the third time in four years the Dinos have embarked on an exhibition tour of Colorado, although nobody is treating this trip like a pre-season vacation.
The U of C missed the Canada West playoffs last season for the first time since 1985 and, with an overhauled coaching staff and handful of new recruits, everybody has something to prove.
"Any time you can go away and spend some quality time with your teammates on the road and in the hotel and at restaurants and stuff like that, it's always a help," said fifth-year sniper Brett O'Malley.
"It will help us and it has helped us in the past, but we're going down there to play hockey and win three hockey games more than to do a team-building thing.
"To go down there and win and get some confidence going into our first regular-season games is going to be huge for us.
"If we go down there and stink up the joint, it's not going to help us. We need to go, play really good hockey, win some hockey games and come back here confident."
While most of their Canada West foes face off against conference rivals, the Dinos are jetting south for a three-game road swing, where they'll test their mettle against the Colorado College Tigers, University of Denver Pioneers and Air Force Falcons.
"It's quite an opportunity to really put our skills and our team to the test," said first-year winger Tyler Swystun.
"We have to get used to winning two games a weekend in our regular season, so this is a great chance for us to go down there and pull out at least a couple wins. If that happens, I think we'll bring a lot of confidence back to Canada for the start of our season."
Instead of watching the ticker for results, they'll be going toe-to-toe against a trio of top-notch college programs and getting a sneak peak of some of the sport's rising stars.
Led by Calgary's Joe Colborne, a first-round selection of the Boston Bruins and a candidate for Canada's world junior squad, the Pioneers were ranked second in the U.S. collegiate hockey pre-season poll.
The Tigers and Falcons are perennial playoff teams.
It's the third time in four years the Dinos have embarked on an exhibition tour of Colorado, although nobody is treating this trip like a pre-season vacation.
The U of C missed the Canada West playoffs last season for the first time since 1985 and, with an overhauled coaching staff and handful of new recruits, everybody has something to prove.
"Any time you can go away and spend some quality time with your teammates on the road and in the hotel and at restaurants and stuff like that, it's always a help," said fifth-year sniper Brett O'Malley.
"It will help us and it has helped us in the past, but we're going down there to play hockey and win three hockey games more than to do a team-building thing.
"To go down there and win and get some confidence going into our first regular-season games is going to be huge for us.
"If we go down there and stink up the joint, it's not going to help us. We need to go, play really good hockey, win some hockey games and come back here confident."
5 comments:
DU once recruited Tyler Swystun, who chose Michigan instead, but went in there too early as a 17 year old. He left UM for major junior when he wasn't getting much playing time, and spent two of the last three years in MJ.
DU's advantage this time around is that they can scout Calgary's game at CC on Saturday night.
"Fifth-year sniper" Brett O'Malley is probably older than me.
Hey - I'm all for them winning 2 games - against the Falcons and the Tigers! Leave it to DU to spoil thier little I-25 Getaway!
Dragons .. Dinos ... giant lizards.
You'd think I'd remember the mascot since I've actually been up to that university. Too much Kokanee Gold while up there, I suppose.
Wow; you'd think most of these guys butts' will be dragging by the time they roll into Cadet Ice Arena. No reason to believe that these games won't be as hard-fought as any other. None of the 3 Colorado teams are going to come out timid and afraid to hit. That's a hard freakin road trip.
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