Dino forward Colson Gengenbach lighting the lamp like never before

This Dino walked a different path The UofC Dinos men's hockey team, Colson Gengenbach included, is back this weekend, with a home-and-home run against MacEwan.

Most of the players in Canada West come from the Western Hockey League.  The Dinos have 23 players who skated in the dub.

Dino forward Colson Gengenbach isn’t one of them.  He came from the Alberta Junior Hockey League and the third year forward says it was a big adjustment.

“Yah I noticed right away this is a lot faster pace,” he said.

“These guys are a lot bigger than I was and was used to and it took me a long time to get used to the speed of the game.”

COME A LONG WAY

Gengenbach is 5’9 (175 cm) and weighs 165 pounds (75 kgs) but he was bound and determined to make it work at the university level.

He admits it took longer than he thought it would.

“It took me a long time,” said the 23-year-old.

“My first year I didn’t do very well, I had like one point in 14 games and then somehow I started getting used to it and got stronger over the summer.:

HARD WORK PAID OFF

Dinos head coach Mark Howell says he started noticing a difference when he put Gengenbach on a line with a couple of veterans.

“We put him with Riley Stotts and Jake Gricius last year and the one thing Colson can do is skate,” said Howell.

“He’s a great skater and he’s got a good release.  You know he came out of Junior “A” (Drayton Valley) and it took him a little time to kind of catch up to the pace of the game but in his second year, he got going in the second half and then this year he hit the ground running. He stayed here all summer training with our team and our strength coaches and all that helped him for sure.”

LEADING GOAL SCORER

Gengenbach has indeed come a long way with the Dinos.  He leads the team in goals with 13 but says it’s not all about him.

"I haven’t scored this many goals in a while but I think I have to give a lot of credit to my line mates Riley Stotts and Jake Gricius," Gengenbach said.  "When Stottsy gives you a pass you have half of the net to shoot at so it makes it pretty easy to score goals.”

Gengenbach and the first place Dinos will play a home and home series against MacEwan this weekend. Puck drop on Friday night at the Father David Bauer arena is at 7:00 p.m.