CALGARY – The Dinos women's hockey team kicked off the New Year with a bang Saturday night by destroying the Mount Royal College Cougars 7-0 at the Olympic Oval.
Two milestones were reached during this game as rookie Sinead Tracy notched a hat-trick and Katie Urness set the ACAC record for shutouts in a season with her fifth perfect game.
All of this occurred while the team was without head coach Danielle Goyette, who is an assistant coach with the national U-18 team at the world championships in Füssen, Germany.
The first goal came eight minutes in when Elana Lovell powered into Mount Royal's end and fed a cross-crease pass to Nicole Kuglin, who buried the Dinos' first with ease.
The second tally was scored due to a herculean effort by Sinead Tracy at 17:36 in the first. Tracy stripped the puck from a Mount Royal defender while the Dinos were killing off a penalty. She proceeded to take the puck to the front of the net where Mount Royal goalie Sarah Oswald denied the shot and first few rebound shots from Tracy and Melissa Zubick. In the end, the fourth rebound found its way to the twine from Tracy's stick, putting the Dinos up 2-0.
Tracy's stats continued to get better as she was the recipient of a rebound from an in close shot by Elana Lovell three minutes into the second period while on the powerplay. Tracy buried the puck to notch her second goal of the night, putting the Dinos three goals ahead of the Cougars.
The special teams continued to be a factor for the Dinos with Mount Royal taking nine minors throughout the game; the University capitalized on three of these chances as well as their shorthanded goal on one of their two penalties.
Halfway through the second period the Dinos nailed the coffin shut even tighter when Elana Lovell took the puck into the Mount Royal crease and converted on a near carbon copy of the previous goal with Beccy Niehaus putting the puck in the net.
With a 4-0 lead at the second intermission the Dinos appeared to ease off the throttle a little allowing the Cougars offense some room to work; this was countered by Katie Urness who earned her shutout stopping eight shots in the third period, many on two on one attacks.
Tracy finished her hat-trick with five minutes remaining in the game with a bad angle shot that found the back of the net, this powerplay goal set the score at 6-0. After the game Tracy commented on the performance, “I was pretty happy with my play and everyone else's play, it was working for me tonight.”
The remaining goals were scored by Shelby Davy and Lianne Legere with an impressive three assists chalked up by Elana Lovell over the course of 60 minutes.
The rookie production on the night was significant, with 12 out of 16 points scored by first year players.
Veteran Cait O'Hara commented on the new talent following the game: “At the beginning of the season we had a bunch of players who were all stars on their teams or all stars in their leagues, they thought it would come easy to them but they've realized that they have to work for what they get.”
Danielle Boyce, also a veteran, added, “In the second half of the season they get comfortable and when you get comfortable your talent really shows, when they feel comfortable they start putting pucks in the net.”
This win gives the Dinos a 10-2 record this season further, solidifying their position atop the league. Their next game happens on Thursday, Jan. 15 when they take on the Red Deer College Queens in Red Deer before the series comes back to Calgary on Saturday, Jan. 17 for a 7:30 p.m. start at the Olympic Oval.
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