CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos put forward a valiant effort led by goaltender Jennifer Mallard but could not solve the unbeaten, No. 3-ranked Alberta Pandas Friday night, falling 2-1 at the Olympic Oval in Canada West women's hockey action.

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With 29 saves on 31 shots, including 19 saves in the second period, Mallard's sensational goaltending held the Dinos in the game. The lone goal she surrendered facing that second period flurry came on a 5-on-3 situation

“I'm happy with the effort of our team,” said Calgary head coach Danielle Goyette. “It wasn't a game that was easy for them. We showed that we could battle.

“We were a little undisciplined in the second period and when teams like Alberta go on the power play we are going to pay for it. I think today that the penalties hurt us but in the end we stuck to our game plan and we are going in the right direction because of it.”

A parade to the penalty box marked the affair, with the Dinos enjoying 10 power plays while Alberta had six advantage situations. The game began on a positive defensive note for the Pandas, who didn't allow the Dinos a single shot on their four first period power plays, which included 1:50 of five-on-three time.

The response from the Pandas didn't come until the end of the second period when, on their third power play of the game, their five-on-three effort found the back of the net. Sarah Hilworth scored the goal by deflecting Leah Copeland's shot. Rayanne Reeve picked up an assist on the first goal of the game – the only puck out of 20 to get by Mallard in the second period.

“Jennifer is the kind of goalie that battles hard, she's never going to give up on a shot,” said Goyette. ”At some points she was in difficult positions but as long as she follows the puck with her eye and never gives up she will save it. We have to give her credit because she kept us in the game tonight, because of her it was a tight game. But we can't rely on our goalies all the time.”

The only even strength goal of the evening turned out to be the game winner when Alberta's Jennifer Jubb got one past Mallard exactly 100 seconds after Sinead Tracey had tied the game at 1-1 midway through the third period

Despite only facing 12 shots on the night, Panda's goalie Dana Vinge saw her shutout bid thwarted thanks to Traecy's power play goal at 7:07 in the third. Tracey netted the Dinos goal with a desperate wrist shot as she was falling to the ice after running into an opposing defender in the slot.

“That's a gutsy effort,” Goyette said of Tracey's performance. “This is her first game back after she broke her collarbone, played two games, and broke it again. If everyone can follow her effort tomorrow then we have a chance to be successful.”

The Dinos (1-11) and Pandas (15-0) travel north to wrap up the weekend series with a 7 p.m. face-off at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton Saturday night.

-UC-