CALGARY - The ACAC-leading Dinos women's hockey team is set for its second test of 2009 when they play a home and home series against the Red Deer College Queens. The Dinos are fresh off a 7-0 stomping of the Mount Royal College Cougars to open the New Year, while third-ranked Red Deer is fresh off of a 5-3 loss to NAIT, which occupies the sixth and last place in the standings.

The last time these teams met the Dinos swept the series with 5-2 and 1-0 victories to open the season. Since then the Dinos have continued on their roll to post a 10-2 record while Red Deer rallied to post a 6-5-1 record so far.

Earlier this month Red Deer participated in some additional practice when they fought to a 2-1 loss against the Chinese national team. The MacEwan College Griffins also took on the Chinese, with the Alberta side losing both of their contests in early January.

Look for an attack being led by Dinos rookies Sinead Tracy and Elana Lovell who notched three goals and three assists, respectively, against Mount Royal. The veterans on the team continue to contribute as well with Katie Urness posting her fifth shutout of the season, an ACAC record.

On the special teams the Dinos are dominating, scoring three powerplay goals during their last game; they are ranked fourth in the league on the powerplay this season while their penalty kill is like a brick wall, stopping 94 per cent of the advantages against them. Red Deer is no slouch when the officials get involved either as they rank first in the league on the powerplay and second on the penalty kill. This effective defence could result in a low scoring game like the last time these teams met.

The first game in the series takes place in Red Deer on Thursday, Jan. 15 before coming back to the Olympic Oval on Saturday to complete the series.

-UC-