CALGARY – Riding a 19 save shutout performance from their goaltender Dana Vinge and two point nights from Leah Copeland, Sarah Hilworth and Tarin Podloski, the University of Alberta Pandas beat the University of Calgary Dinos 2-0.
Both Panda goals were scored on the powerplay in the third period against a Dinos defence that didn't give up much ground throughout the game.
“As a coach I don't think that I can ask for a better game from the players.” Dinos coach Danielle Goyette commented after the game. "I think that they put on a good show today. It wasn't mistakes that cost us the game, it was the [Panda] powerplay.”
Much of the solid play on the ice came from the goaltenders for both teams, as Dana Vinge turned away 18 shots for Alberta, while the Dinos' Jennifer Mallard denied 26 of 28.
Some of Vinge's best saves came during the first two periods on two perfect breakaways for Dinos striker Elana Lovell. Vinge came up big on both attempts, nabbing the first with a sprawling, split pad effort and the second with a deflection to deny the Dinos any points.
At the other end the Pandas were similarly frustrated until 1:45 into the third period when, with Shannon Davidson in the box for holding, Tarin Podloski received a perfect feed from Sarah Hilworth across the slot that set up the snapshot into a nearly empty net. Leah Copeland also picked up an assist on that marker.
The Dinos fought back after that setback with Casey Irving and Shannon Davidson both picking up their game to frustrate the Pandas. This effort was stymied by a parade of penalties however, eight minutes worth in all, drawn by the Dinos in the third period.
The Pandas sealed the game at 12:24 in the third with their second powerplay goal of the night. Copeland and Podloski set up the pass through the Dinos crease to Hilworth who buried it.
Overall, the difference was the Panda powerplay which converted on two of seven chances while the Dinos went zero for six with the extra player.
The result leaves the Pandas at the top of Canada West with a perfect 14-0 record thus-far in the campaign while the Dinos fall to 1-11, leaving them six points behind their nearest competition.
“Today we learned that if everyone does their job that we can compete with the top team in the league, that's what we have to be happy about.” Goyette added after the loss.
With the first half of the season now behind them, the teams can look forward to the semester break which sees no games played until January. Upon return, the teams will meet again immediately with another home-and-home series between the Dinos and Pandas on January 8th at the Olympic Oval in Calgary and January 9th at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.
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