This one got started before the home crowd had even settled into their seats when Alli Borrow found Kyra Greig, and Greig buried the puck behind Drever just 60 seconds into the game to put the Pronghorns up 1-0! It looked as though the Huskies may get that one back, but some great defensive work by the Pronghorns swept the puck off the line and under Marshall before the puck found the interior of the net. Through 20 minutes of play, the Pronghorns held the 1-0 lead despite being outshot 14-8 by Saskatchewan.
The goaltending duel ramped up in the second period as both coaches looked to settle down the defensive zones. Despite one power-play opportunity per side in the middle stanza, there was nothing getting by Drever nor Marshall. With 40 minutes in the books, the 1-0 lead for the Pronghorns stood as Saskatchewan held a 28-12 advantage in shots.
The blank sheet on the Saskatchewan side continued late into the third period. Needing an offensive boost, the Huskies pulled Drever for the extra attacker and went to work. With the seconds ticking down, the puck found the stick of Bailee Bourassa at the right face-off dot, and her shot went into the crowd standing in front of Marshall. With the puck pinballing around the crowd, Sophie Lalor found it and knocked it past Marshall with 10 seconds remaining to push this game into overtime!
The first overtime period saw the four-on-four settle nothing. The three-on-three overtime saw time expire without a goal as well, so it was off to the shootout to find a winner. Lethbridge's Madison Porter thought she had scored when she broke in on Drever, but the officials conferred and decided that the puck went off the post rather than inside of the net, so no goal was the final decision on the first Lethbridge attempt. Sophie Lalor would beat Marshall to put Saskatchewan up 1-0 after one round of the shootout. Neither Kianna Dietz nor Kate Ball could beat the netminders, so it came down to Krya Greig from Lethbridge to keep the shootout going, but Drever stopped Greig to secure the 2-1 shootout victory for Saskatchewan! Camryn Drever earned her first win of the season by stopping 24 shots and all three shootout attempts while Chloe Marshall deserved a better fate than the shootout loss after stopping 51 shots in the game and two of three shootout attempts.
Partial highlights of this game are below!
SATURDAY: After dropping their first game on home ice, the Pronghorns were looking to get back to their winning ways and start a new win streak by taking the back-half of the two-game set with the Huskies. The Huskies, who had taken points off the best teams in three-consecutive games, were looking to keep their good play going. Jessica Vance was back in her usual spot between the pipes for Saskatchewan while Alicia Anderson stared her down from 200-feet away.
This game saw the scoring get started early as well. With Victoria Rankin in the penalty box, the Huskies used some good puck movement to get an Emma Nutter shot away that missed the net, but the puck recovery was just as good as Rachel Lundberg found Emma Nutter sneaking into the slot, and she'd make good on the second attempt at 4:19 for the power-play goal and the 1-0 lead for Saskatchewan. Nearly five minutes later, though, the Pronghorns would square the game as Brooklyn Palmer's initial shot from the point was stopped, but Madison Porter poked the loose puck past Vance at 9:09 to tie the game at 1-1! Lethbridge would use a power-play of their own later in the period to take the lead when Saskatchewan poked a puck to the line, but not out, and Meg Dyer stepped up, lasered a wrist shot off the post that went off Vance and trickled into the net at 15:59 to put the Pronghorns up 2-1! That score would hold through the remaining 4:01 as the Pronghorns went to the break up a goal, but down 13-10 in shots.
The defence tightened up in the second period for both sides as the Pronghorns killed off three Saskatchewan power-plays in the opening ten minutes of the middle frame before Saskatchewan killed a late penalty themselves. Neither Vance nor Anderson would give up anything behind them, so we'd move to third period with the 2-1 score intact and Saskatchewan holding a 24-23 edge in shots.
The third period saw Lethbridge kill off an early penalty just 47 seconds into the frame, and that seemed to give them a boost of confidence as the period progressed. Saskatchewan killed off a penalty midway through the period, so there were opportunities that went unfulfilled in this frame. Vance was called to the bench in the final minute of play, but the extra attacker garnered no advantage for the Huskies as the final horn sounded with Lethbridge grabbing victory on the strength of a 2-1 victory! Alicia Anderson was outstanding in the Pronghorns net as she made 34 stops for her fourth win of the season while Jessica Vance made 25 saves in suffering her first regulation loss.
Highlights of this game are below!
The opening period saw Alberta take control early only to see the Cougars take the lead early. Kate Hufnagel found the back of the net at 6:23 past Chamberlin to put the Cougars up 1-0 over the Pandas! Despite their constant pressure, the Pands simply couldn't solve the MRU rookie as Kaitlyn Ross stood tall in helping the Cougars go to the break up a goal despite being outshot 8-4 in the period.
The second period was a highlight reel of saves by Kaitlyn Ross. The Mount Royal netminder was stellar on three separate penalty kills in helping the Cougars escape danger while keeping the Pandas off the board. It wasn't a pretty period as most of the play happened in the Mount Royal zone, but the score remained 1-0 thanks to Ross and the MRU defence as they were outshot in this period 9-2 by the Pandas.
Whatever Ross was doing for the previous 40 minutes, she just kept doing it for the next 20 minutes as well. Alberta continued to pepper the Cougars with shots, but Ross was impervious to their attacks all night long. Chamberlin withstood the shots that the Cougars sent her way, but when the final horn sounded it was Kaitlyn Ross who was the story as she and the Cougars shut out the Alberta Pandas 1-0! Ross earned her first shutout and her second win of the season with her 25-save blanking of the Pandas while Kirsten Chamberlin suffered her second loss of the season despite stopping 11 of 12 shots she faced.
The Kaitlyn Ross goaltending clinic highlights are below!
The opening period felt remarkable similar to the night before in Calgary as the Pandas brought all sorts of pressure into the Mount Royal zone, but they could not solve the Cougars' netminder in Shokar. In contrast, Oswald had very little to do through the opening 20 minutes as the Pandas outshot the Cougars by a 14-3 margin, but the score remained a 0-0 tie through the intermission.
The second period started with more of the same as the Pandas were continually denied through the first-half of the middle frame, but Alberta's lethal power-play - nine goals on 24 opportunities to that point in the game for a 37.5% effectiveness - struck on their third advantage of the game. Kennedy Ganser's low point shot beat a screened Shokar at 13:42 while on the power-play, and Alberta finally had solved the Cougars' goaltending to go up 1-0! 2:04 later, the Pandas would find themselves on the power-play once again as Alex Poznikoff's initial shot would be stopped by Shokar, but Autumn MacDougall was on the doorstep to sweep the puck by the MRU netminder to make it a 2-0 game for the Pandas! That score would hold true through the second intermission as Alberta also held a 24-9 advantage in shots!
The third period would see Mount Royal press to find goals, but it would be Oswald who stood tall in the Pandas' crease. Despite an early power-play that had carried over from the second period, Alberta allowed nothing to get past Oswald who did her job well as the Pandas skated to the 2-0 victory over the Cougars! Halle Oswald was sharp once again as she stopped all 16 shots she faced for her third win and second shutout of the campaign while Cassie Shokar's record dropped to 1-1-0 on the season with the loss despite making 28 saves in this game.
Highlights of this one are below!
The teams started off playing some solid defensive hockey as neither side could find room past the other team's netminder. Calgary held the edge in shots at 6-4 through the opening frame, but we'd move to the second period still tied 0-0.
The second period saw more shots, but the same number of goals as both Fargey and Roberts were standing tall in their respective nets. Manitoba owned the edge in shots in this period with a 10-5 margin and 14-11 overall, but the 0-0 score stood through two periods of play.
We'd see the stalemate broken in the third period. The Bisons would strike with a two-player advantage when Emilie Massé, standing in front of Roberts, would deflect the Megan Neduzak shot from the high slot area past the netminder with 6:31 to play, and Manitoba grabbed the 1-0 lead! Less than two minutes later, Polina Goncharova spotted Sheridan Oswald sneaking behind the Dinos defence and sent her in on the breakaway where Oswald would deke forehand-backhand-forehand before beating Roberts low along the ice at 15:17 as the Bisons went up 2-0! From there, it was on Fargey and the defence, and they wouldn't falter as the final horn sounded on this game with the Bisons winning 2-0! Erin Fargey earned her first win and shutout of the season on a 16-save effort while Roberts took the loss despite making 17 saves in this game.
Highlights are below!
SATURDAY: The second-half of the two-game set saw Manitoba needing to sweep the Dinos to even their record at .500. The Dinos, meanwhile, were looking to keep pace with Lethbridge and Alberta as they needed a win. Amanda Schubert got the crease for Manitoba on the back-half of the series while Kelsey Roberts was back in the nets following the loss the night before.
The scoring happened a little earlier on this afternoon. There were no goals awarded on a power-play chances in the early going of the period as the two sides played with the extra attacker, but there would be a goal after things settled down. Midway through the first period, Dana Wood's low snapshot from the blue line found its way through traffic in front of Schubert and past the netminder to put Calgary up 1-0 at 10:46! The remainder of the period saw the two sides trade a few more chances, but we'd go to the break with Calgary up 1-0 on the scoreboard and leading 10-6 in shots!
The middle frame saw both teams settle down and focus on hockey as the two teams went back and forth looking for goals. The only problem was that neither Schubert nor Roberts were interested in helping out. Calgary threw 11 shots at Schubert and Manitoba put 10 shots on Roberts, but the score remained 1-0 after 40 minutes of play.
The third period had that feeling that the 1-0 score might stand as both Roberts and Schubert did their parts through two periods. However, an early face-off at the right circle in the Manitoba zone would prove beneficial to the home side as Brooke Dennett pulled the puck back to Annaliese Meier who stepped behind her, and Meier whipped a quick shot on net from the left hash marks that went high glove-side on Schubert to make it a 2-0 lead for the Dinos 4:45 into the period! Manitoba would press as the time wound down, and they'd find some life on a late power-play. Chloe Snaith's initial shot went into a sea of humanity in front of Roberts, never making it to the netminder, but Snaith followed up her shot, found the loose puck in the pile-up, and wristed home a shot past Roberts who never did see the puck on the sequence for the power-play goal with 3:57 to play as the Bisons made it 2-1. That one-goal lead, however, would be protected by the Dinos as the horn sounded on a 2-1 Calgary victory! Kelsey Roberts earned the win in making 24 saves while Amanda Schubert took the loss in this game after stopping 25 chances.
Highlights of this game are below!
| School | Record | Points | GF | GA | Streak | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lethbridge | 4-1-0-1 | 13 | 17 | 11 | W1 | @ ALB |
| Alberta | 3-2-1-0 | 11 | 20 | 6 | W1 | vs LET |
| Calgary | 3-2-1-0 | 11 | 10 | 9 | W1 | vs SAS |
| Mount Royal | 3-3-0-0 | 9 | 8 | 6 | L1 | vs REG |
| Saskatchewan | 2-2-1-1 | 9 | 9 | 10 | L1 | @ CAL |
| British Columbia | 2-2-0-2 | 8 | 9 | 20 | L1 | vs MAN |
| Manitoba | 2-4-0-0 | 6 | 9 | 14 | L1 | @ UBC |
| Regina | 1-4-1-0 | 5 | 10 | 16 | W1 | @ MRU |
The Last Word
I think it's pretty clear that the Canada West Conference is up for grabs at this point. Alberta, who was thought to be the runaway winner of the conference, finds itself tied with Calgary and behind Lethbridge at the end of the weekend once again. Saskatchewan, for all their great defence, is struggling to find goals. Mount Royal is hanging with the big teams, having split their three weekends thus far. UBC is starting to round into form with better defensive efforts. Manitoba and Regina are both struggling to find goals with young squads, but are still in the race if they can find some wins next weekend.If you're Alberta, you have to be a little worried about your five-on-five scoring right now. Of the 20 goals scored for the Pandas, 11 of them have come with the Pandas playing with the extra player. That's some great power-play efficiency, but it's not great for the majority of the game where the teams skate with the same number of skaters.
The other thing that is way off in Panda land is their shooting percentage. To date, Alberta has 174 shots in six games - 29 shots-per-game average - which is excellent at any level of hockey. Their overall shooting percentage sits at 11.5%, but if you remove that first weekend where they ran wild all over the Thunderbirds, the Pandas have shot a combined 7.4% over the last four games against both Saskatchewan and Mount Royal. That's a significant drop-off in their shooting success in finding the back of the net against teams that arguably have better defences than UBC this season, and it might be something to keep an eye on as we inch closer to the playoffs. As you're likely aware, all stats get magnified in a three-game series, so this could be a problem if the Pandas' shooting accuracy remains below 10%.
If there is truth in the adage "before you can win, you have to learn how to lose," both Lethbridge and Calgary are living proof this season that a few down years can prove fortuitous for a squad. In particular, Lethbridge winning on Clare Drake Arena ice over the Pandas - a place where dreams go to die - proves that this Pronghorns squad is not only for real, but are going to take a run at being one of the two representatives for Canada West in Charlottetown this March. One has to be excited to see the Pronghorns not only do well, but completely surprise everyone after that few years. This is an amazing run, and I'm hoping they keep it up. While I may call games for the Bisons, you can put me down as a fan of the Pronghorns this season.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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