CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos pulled themselves back to the top of the ACAC standings Saturday night by defeating the SAIT Trojans 2-0 at the SAIT Campus Centre.
This win comes on the heels of a split series last weekend that put the Dinos ahead before a SAIT victory against Mount Royal Friday night brought these teams into a first place tie on the leader-board.
The game began with a SAIT offensive that was soon derailed by the Dinos' first counterattack at 4:15 which saw scoring leader Elana Lovell lead a three-on-one charge. She dished the puck off to rookie Sinead Tracy who buried the Dinos' first shot with ease.
Despite this setback, SAIT still seemed in control offensively until eight minutes in when captain Tonya Faasse took a hooking penalty that caused the momentum to shift in the Dinos' favour.
Faasse ran into major penalty trouble late in the second period when, on a drive after the play, she ran over Dinos goaltender Katie Urness. Urness was slow getting up, requiring trainer assistance, and Faasse was given a major and a game misconduct and ejected from the game.
Urness recovered quickly and went on to post her fourth shutout of the season, turning away 11 shots on the night.
The Dinos took advantage of the extended powerplay, pouring the pressure onto SAIT goalie Lindsay Coghlan who turned away 32 shots on the night. This pressure paid off in the dying seconds of the second period when Lovell was set up by Tracy on a two-on-one drive, tapping the puck in for her second point on the night on route to the Dinos' ninth win of the season.
The Dinos maintained control through the third period, easily fending off a leaderless SAIT team that couldn't generate a significant offence.
“We played really well all three periods, everyone played really well,” commented Tracy, who had a goal and an assist on the night.
This victory lets the Dinos pull ahead in the ACAC standings with a 9-2 record; SAIT remains their closest rivals at 8-2 with one game to play before the semester break. The Dinos next game happens in the new year on Jan. 10 where they will take on Mount Royal College at the Olympic Oval with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
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