CALGARY – The Dinos had a case of déjà-vu Saturday night after they cleaned the Mount Royal College Cougars out 6-0 at the Olympic Oval. This win is very similar to their game three weeks ago where the Dinos claimed a 7-0 victory. The game was the completion of a home and home series that the Dinos swept after sneaking by the Cougars Friday night 2-1.
The first ranked Dinos eased into the game with a dominating first period performance that was marked by only a single tally on a Beccy Neihaus wraparound that floated through the crease of Mount Royal starter Leanne Pfliger and into the net. The rest of the period was characterized by back and forth play that favoured the Dinos who outshot the Cougars 9-6.
Shannon Davidson was a key part of the Dinos performance and commented on where the team went right “We're faster than them, if we keep our feet moving and keep our passes strong we can walk around them.”
'Walk around' was a good description of the tactic the Dinos took to the Cougars in the second with Erin Davidson, Tiara Schoenroth, Lianne Legere and Sinead Tracy all notching goals.
Casey Irving had a large hand in the victory notching 3 assists for her effective point shots which set up the goal by Davidson and a powerplay marker by Schoenroth.
Legere's goal came because a rebound floated into her office in front of the net, Pfilger stood no chance as the puck found the roof of the net.
That goal, which put the Dinos up 4-0 also ended Pfilger's night as she was replaced by Mount Royal's usual starter, Sarah Oswald.
Despite the goalie change, Mount Royal's fortunes were not going to turn; this was due to Sinead Tracy notching her sixth goal on the season outskating both Mount Royal defenders and dekeing Oswald into a 5-0 deficit. The offence produced by the Dinos in the second was immense with the shot counter reading 13-4 in favour of the home team.
The game ended in the same manner as it began, with back and forth hockey and a single Dino goal. The lone goal came on a delayed penalty with Danielle Boyce clearing the puck to the Dinos' leading scorer, Elana Lovell. Lovell, not one to make a mistake on a breakaway, sniped the puck past Oswald easily and set the final score at 6-0.
Though she saw a quiet night at the other end of the ice Katie Urness padded her stats, notching a sixth shutout this season; most of the 16 shots she faced on the evening weren't high risk scoring chances but Urness was called upon to make a number of great saves.
The Dinos have had a high scoring January, notching scores of 7-0 and 6-0 against Mount Royal and an 8-1 decision against NAIT.
“The first time when we won 7-0 we realized how much fun it was,” smiled Shannon Davidson following the match. "The Dinos haven't been able to do that for the last few years, now that we have the right players we want to keep going, keep being driven by the fun.”
This win tightens the Dinos' grip on first place spot, now a full two wins clear of their next nearest rivals, SAIT. The Cougars, by contrast, are unlikely to recover from their last place position before the regular season ends in two weeks.
The ACAC playoffs are a format where six teams make the post-season and in a six team league this still leaves Mount Royal with a shot at success.
The format sees the third and sixth place teams square off in a best-of-three series while the fourth and fifth ranked teams do the same.
The winners of those series go on to play the first and second ranked teams in a best-of-three semi-final, leaving the last two teams to duke it out in a best-of-five championship match.
The Dinos second from last series of the season begins next week, Feb. 6, as they play host to the MacEwan College Griffins at the Olympic Oval at 7:30 p.m.; that series concludes in Edmonton on Saturday night.
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