CALGARY – The Dinos women's hockey team will greet 2010 in the same way they said goodbye to 2009: with a home-and-home series against their northern rivals, the University of Alberta Pandas.

This matchup is a first-against-last situation with the undefeated and No. 3-ranked Pandas defending a 14-0 record from the first half of the season while the Dinos have struggled through their re-entry into CIS with a 1-11 start, putting them at the bottom of Canada West.

The last time these teams met was at the end of the 2009 portion of the season with a similar home-and-home series that saw the Pandas shut the Dinos out 6-0 and 2-0.

Despite the one-sided scores, the final game of that series gave the Dinos some hope as head coach Danielle Goyette noted following the 2-0 loss in which Calgary played one of its best games of the year in a rivalry that is sure to see continued intensity in the coming seasons.

“As a coach I don't think that I can ask for a better game from the players,” Goyette said. “I think that they put on a good show today. It wasn't mistakes that cost us the game, it was their power play. 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.”

The Pandas' netminder, Dana Vinge, is noteworthy in this matchup as she currently leads the Canada West goaltending charts with a 0.76 goals-against and a glittering .953 save percentage. On the other end of the rink, the Pandas are just as dangerous with Tarin Podloski and Leah Copeland occupying the top of the Canada West scoring chart with 26 and 22 points, respectively.

The Dinos threats include fifth-year forward Danielle Boyce, one of the only Dinos with prior CIS experience, who has chalked up 6 points in 2009. Also a threat is second-year striker Elana Lovell who leads the team in goal scoring with four markers.

The Dinos host the first game of 2010 on Friday, Jan. 8 with a 7:30 p.m. start at the Olympic Oval. The teams will then travel to Edmonton's Clare Drake Arena for the second tilt which faces off at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.

-UC-