CALGARY – The busiest weekend in the short history of the Crowchild Classic hits the ice and the hardcourt this weekend as the University of Calgary Dinos and the Mount Royal University Cougars face each other in six basketball and hockey games Thursday and Friday nights.

There are 17 games overall in the Crowchild Classic series for the 2012-13 season, and more than a third of them will take place over this two-day period. Four of the six contests will be hosted by the Dinos, including both basketball games.

Action tips off Thursday night in the Jack Simpson Gym for men's basketball action. At the same time across the street at Father David Bauer Arena, the puck drops in women's hockey action as the Dinos and Cougars battle in a meaningful game for the first time since the 2009 ACAC championship series. And down the road, also at 7 p.m., it's the first-ever regular season meeting between the two schools in men's hockey action.

Friday night, the hockey teams exchange venues while the ladies take the spotlight on the basketball court. The eighth-ranked Dinos (6-0) host a women in sport night Friday in the Jack Simpson Gym as they take on the Cougars at 7 p.m. It's also the Dinos' annual Shoot for the Cure game, part of a nation-wide campaign by CIS women's basketball programs to raise funds and awareness for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Also Friday night, the men's hockey series moves to Father David Bauer Arena for a 7 p.m. puck drop, while the women's teams face off at Flames Community Arenas.

Through the first seven games in the series, the Dinos hold a record of 3-2-2, a slight edge over the Cougars at 2-3-2. The school with the most wins will claim The Medal, a 68-kilogram City of Calgary manhole cover, to display on its campus for the following year, along with civic bragging rights. A total of eight wins is needed to capture The Medal for 2012-13, and there is an outside shot that both schools could win it this week with a solid performance over the six games.

The series wraps up in early February when the hockey teams meet again for the final four games of the inaugural Crowchild Classic.

For more information, visit www.crowchildclassic.ca.

-UC-