Women’s Hockey: Cougars maul Dinos

By Derek Neumeier

Revenge is sweet, but seldom easy. After losing 3-0 Friday night at Centennial Arena, the University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team came within inches of gaining retribution by defeating their biggest rivals, the Mount Royal Cougars, Sat., Nov. 4. The Dinos eventually fell short at the Olympic Oval, finishing on the losing end of a 3-1 decision.

The game was back and forth until midway through the third, with the score tied at 1-1, when the Cougars scored the eventual winner. The game was sealed by a late empty-netter. So close and yet so far–the sad story of the Dinos so far this season.

“We played very hard for three periods,” said Dinos head coach Dean Holden. “It could have gone either way, they just got one more break than us.”

The game started off with a flurry of fast-paced action, after an initial icing call there were nine straight minutes of hockey without a whistle. Both teams put pucks on net but it wasn’t until late in the first that somebody finally capitalized. Dinos defender Ali Webb skated in from the blueline, fired a shot that took a strange deflection to the top shelf of the net, past the screened Cougars goalie.

“I just put the puck on the net,” said Webb. “Our players were crashing the net at the time.”

“If you can score shorthanded, it shows you’re working hard,” added Holden.

The lead didn’t last for long as the Cougars tied up the game at 14:58 of the second period. The puck slid through two downed skaters to a lone Cougar right in front of the net, leaving Dinos goalie Katie Urness undefended.

The game was tied up to start the third and both teams were hungry for the ‘W.’ The Dinos had many chances but were unable to fully capitalize on them. It was halfway through the period when a Cougars player threw a pass out from the corner to her streaking teammate in the slot, who deflected the pass out of mid-air past Urness. The veteran Cougars held onto the lead for the remaining minutes and eventually added the empty-netter.

The Dinos played a strong game, despite being hindered by injuries. Four regulars were out of the line-up versus Mount Royal, including three defenders.

“It starts slow to come back from injuries,” said first-year communications student Shannon Davidson. “But as long as every girl is playing hard it will all come together.”

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