Horns to honour seniors

By Lethbridge Herald on February 7, 2020.

Men’s and women’s hockey teams wrapping up Canada West seasons

Dale Woodard

Lethbridge Herald

sports@lethbridgeherald.com

Standings-wise, the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s hockey team don’t have a whole lot to play for.

But as the 5-18-3 Horns wrap up their 2019-20 Canada West regular season with a home-and-home series against the Calgary Dinos, there are a few players to play for.

After opening the weekend in Calgary tonight, the Horns — who were mathematically eliminated from the post season last Friday with a loss to the UBC Thunderbirds — will host their senior night Saturday at Nicholas Sheran Arena.

This year’s honourees are Jack Burgart, Ryan Chynoweth, Russ Maxwell, Spenser Jensen, Dalton Sward, Evan Wardley and Torrin White.

The Pronghorns women’s team, also eliminated from playoff contention last weekend, will honour their graduating players — Alicia Anderson, Danielle Hettle, Katelyn Breitkreuz, Kriana Stocker, Mattie Apperson and Tricia Van Vaerenbergh — in tonight’s game against the Dinos at 7 p.m. at Nicholas Sheran Arena.

For the Pronghorns men, snapping a 10-game winless streak would also be nice, but a chance to give the departing veterans a proper sendoff is also a motivation.

“We have a home-and-home with Calgary, a rival, and we want to finish off well,” said Pronghorns head coach Murray Nystrom.

“It’s our senior’s night, so there’s a lot to play for. With our seniors you want to be able to go out on a good note and as one of our younger guys you want to make Horns to honour seniorssure you’re leaving on a good note for the season. I think there is still a lot to play for. We have a really good group in the room and pride is definitely a factor. There will be no rolling over, for sure. We’ll come out hard and finish up the season the right way.”

The second semester has been tough sledding for ther Horns, who have gone 0-8-2 with a turn of the calendar. They have also scored the fewest goals in Canada West with 61 and allowed a conference high 124 goals against.

However, first-year forward Luke Coleman has led the Pronghorns with 12 goals — including a hat trick last Saturday — and seven assists.

His 12 goals is tied for tops amongst Canada West rookies. He is also sixth in Canada West rookie points.

Michael Clarke is tied for second in Pronghorn scoring with Landon Gross and Brooks Maxwell with 16 points.

On the women’s side, the 8-14-2-2 also close out their season.

While the Horns could mathematically tie either the Mount Royal Cougars or the Thunderbirds for the final playoff spot with two regulation wins and two regulation losses by either team, both UBC and Mount Royal hold the tie breaker.

The Pronghorns sit fourth in Canada West in goals-for with 46 but sit eighth in goals-against at 69.

Kyra Greig moved into the top-10 in Canada West scoring following a two goal performance last Friday. She is ninth with 18 points with seven goals and 11 assists.

Goaltender Alicia Anderson will graduate with her name all over the Canada West record book. Heading into the weekend, Anderson holds the Canada West all-time records for games played by a goaltender (119), minutes played (7,122:54), saves (3763) and sits second in career save percentage (0.934).

The Pronghorns and Dinos (16-7-1-2) split their series earlier this season, with the Pronghorns winning in a shootout and the Dinos opening that weekend set with a 5-1 win in Calgary.

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