CALGARY - The Dinos women's hockey team is starting the New Year in style, tied for the lead of the ACAC and facing the fourth-ranked Mount Royal College Cougars on home ice.

The Dinos capped their fall semester with a 2-0 victory over SAIT, and the shutout win sent the Dinos into the Christmas break with a 9-2 record. SAIT is now tied with the Dinos at 9-3 after a 6-3 win against Mount Royal in the Cougars' last game of 2008.

Mount Royal has been running into stiffer competition this year; last season they finished the season ranked first while this season their 4-6-1 record leaves them tied with MacEwan College for fourth.

Despite the standings this game is not going to be taken lightly by the Dinos because one of their two losses in the first half of the season came when they split a home-and-home series to the Cougars; that loss snapped a five game winning streak for the Dinos.

The Dinos have shown great defensive resilience up to this point in the season giving up only 14 goals in 11 games, a league best. This can be partly attributed to Katie Urness who enters the New Year with a league-best 0.99 GAA and 0.934 save percentage over eight games. The Dinos penalty kill has also been impressive, giving up only three goals on 50 attempts.

Calgary will be without the services of Head Coach Danielle Goyette this weekend as she completes her stint as an assistant coach with the national U-18 women's team at the world championships in Füssen, Germany. The tournament runs through January 10, and Goyette will return to the Dinos in time for their next action, a home-and-home series with the Red Deer Queens Jan. 15 and 17.

The Dinos and Cougars face off on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Olympic Oval.

-UC-