CALGARY - Katie Blundell returned in fine form and the Calgary forwards were great when it mattered as the Dinos downed the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-1 in Calgary.

BOX SCORE

Blundell, who last appeared for the Dinos in 2007, made her presence felt early on as she notched the game's first goal on Huskies goaltender Alicia Middlebrook. Blundell was the change of pace that the Dinos needed after two tough losses out west, with her quickness on the front line frustrating the Huskies defence throughout the game.

Head coach Robin Slot was very pleased with his veteran forwards play.

“Katie is definitely a sparkplug. She works hard, and her ball control is very good,” noted Slot. “She changes the speed of the game for us up front, which can be very useful.”

The Dinos were also aided by two strong performances from their top forwards, Morena Ianniello and Tessa Miller. Both players registered a goal for the Dinos to go along with four shots on goal each, with Ianniello being credited with the game winner early in the second half.

The Huskies battled back in the second half after only registering one shot on goal in the first, pushing the tempo enough to get the Dinos out of sync. Down 2-0 early in the second frame, it was Elizabeth Hudon who tried to get the Huskies going, capitalizing on a miscue from Dinos defender Vanessa Graham in the 55th minute. This sparked a twenty minute period in which Saskatchewan put much strain on Calgary goaltender Kristen Barton.

While Tessa Miller iced the match in the 89th minute off a nice pass from Saaraa Premji, it was Barton who was able to cool the Husky pressure late in the second. Making a fantastic save on the far left side of the net in a scramble situation, Barton came through when it mattered after having only faced five total shots on goal.

Coach Slot was content with how his team responded to the Saskatchewan pressure.

“We had good focus in the first half, but we definitely had a let-down for a while there in the second. They came hard at us after Morena's goal, but it was nice to see us deal with the pressure, and then settle down and take it to them to finish the game,” said Slot.

Saskatchewan got a valiant effort from Middlebrook in net, who saved 10 out of a total of 13 shots on goal. With the loss, the young goalkeeper and the Huskies will head south to Lethbridge (0-5-0), where they face the Pronghorns on Sunday.

The Dinos improve to 2-3 on the season with the victory and will face the Alberta Pandas (3-2-0) on Sunday. The game goes at noon MDT at the West Varsity Pitch in Calgary.