The University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team finally fulfilled their vendetta against the Grant MacEwan Griffins for defeating them in the championship series last year.
The Dinos got revenge by beating the Griffins 2-0 at the Olympic Oval on Saturday. The Dinos came out of the gates flying and took the game to the Griffins in the first period. They peppered Grant MacEwan goalie Kristin Sugiyama with eight shots while Dinos goalie Katie Urness only faced two in the period.
“That was probably one of the first games where we have had three solid periods,” said Dinos rookie forward Elana Lovell. “We did not get off to a third period start and get us into bad situations where we had to come back.”
Despite the strong opening frame, the Dinos were unable to put the puck in the net as Sugiyama stopped everything that came her way. The second period started the same way the first ended with the Dinos applying the pressure to the Griffins. The hard work finally paid off when Lovell embarrassed a Griffin defender by slotting the puck through her legs and danced around her to put herself in a breakaway position. Once free, she wasted no time and blasted the shot into the top left corner of the net to give the Dinos the 1-0 lead.
“I just dangled the girl,” said Lovell.
The Dinos continued to play strong for the remainder of the game and held on to win 2-0. Lovell scored her second goal of the game into the empty net.
The Dinos have had an impressive season thus far as they hold a record of seven wins and only one loss, putting them on top of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference standings. The Dinos play a doubleheader this weekend against SAIT, which historically has been an intense and competitive matchup.
“It is always a good rivalry,” said Urness.