Going into action against the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Trojans this past weekend, the University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team knew they needed to play two inspired games of hockey, as four points would help distance themselves from the rest of the pack towards one of the top two spots in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference and a first-round playoff bye. However, the Dinos met much adversity from their inner-city rivals as the Trojans, who were tied with the lady hockeysaurs going into the series, took both games by hair’s lengths, 2-1 in a shootout and 3-2.
The Dinos’ sudden death woes continued on Fri. night as they lost their fourth shootout in a row, but the disappointment was nothing compared to what was inflicted the night after. Despite going down 2-0 early in the first, the Dinos stormed back thanks to goals by forward Cassandra Atkins and defender Sara Clowes. Tied 2-2 late into the third, the game looked to surely go into overtime yet again and give the Dinos a chance to redeem their shootout loss from the night before, until tragedy struck. With their minds already looking towards overtime, the Dinos were caught off-guard as the Trojans scored a shockingly devastating goal with only two seconds left in regulation, stealing the win at the last possible moment and capping off a heartbreaking pair of games that could have gone to either team.
With four points for SAIT and only one for the U of C over the weekend, the Trojans vaulted into second place in the conference, leaving the Dinos in third. The top two teams in the conference at the end of the season receive the luxury of an automatic bye to the second round, but it would almost take a miracle now for the Dinos to reach that plateau. The fate of the Dinos’ season is currently up in the air as the team needs to rebound in a big way and somehow upset the Mount Royal College Cougars in their last pair of games to regain some crucial momentum for the playoffs this weekend. The Cougars are riding high in first after recently dismantling the Red Deer College Queens, so the Dinos will need to put everything they have into this all-important last weekend series.