CALGARY - With the first two games of the 2011-12 varsity season in the books the Calgary Dinos women's hockey team will try to continue its early season success in a home-and-home series against the Lethbridge Pronghorns this weekend.

Currently the Dinos sit tied for third spot in Canada West with four points, boasting a perfect 2-0-0 record. The first two games of this season have shown that the Dinos will be a force to be reckoned over the upcoming months, with a two hard-fought victories against their provincial rival Alberta Pandas over this past weekend with a 2-1 OT victory on Friday night and a 1-0 victory on Saturday.

Lethbridge enters this week first in Canada West standings with six points and boasting a 3-1-0 record with some early victories against UBC and Saskatchewan. Their last series was against Saskatchewan where the Pronghorns swept the Huskies on home ice with two strong wins by scores of 4-1 and 1-0. Prior to last weekend's matchup with the Huskies, the Pronghorns split their series against UBC with Lethbridge taking game one in a 2-0 decision while UBC evened the series with a 4-2 win the following night.

With both teams in the upper half of the Canada West standings, this series should be a hotly contested battle. In the 2010-11 season Calgary was victorious in all four battles against the Pronghorns, outscoring Lethbridge 15-5.

For the Dinos early season statistics have Hayley Wickenheiser, Ilya Gavrilova and Stephanie Ramsey leading scoring with 2 points apiece. Wickenheiser in one game on the season has notched a goal and assist, with her goal being the overtime winner in the Dinos first game of action.

Alongside her, Gavrilova also has a goal and assist on the year, her goal being the lone goal in the Dinos Saturday victory over the Pandas. Third-year transfer Stephanie Ramsey rounds out the top scorers with a goal and assist from the previous weekend against her former Pandas squad.

In net the Dinos' third-year goalie Amanda Tapp has had a very solid start to the year with an impressive 0.49 GAA and .969 save percentage in two early victories against Alberta.

Lethbridge enters the game with three players that stand out as early offensive threats: Jenna-Marie Durnin, Shelby Ballendine and Sadie Lenstra. Durnin and Ballendine lead the Pronghorns in scoring, with third year forward Durnin in four games netting two goals along with assisting on one more, Ballendine a fifth-year forward also has three points for the Horns with two assists and a goal early in the 2011-12 campaign. Rookie Lenstra has had an impressive start to the year lighting the lamp 2 times for the Horns.

The Pronghorns have been solely relying on second year goalie Crystal Patterson for their games thus far. So far Patterson has been doing a solid job in net with 85 saves on route to a 1.00 GAA and a .955 save percentage.

The Dinos return to home ice at Father David Bauer next week when they host the UBC Thunderbirds Nov. 4-5.

-UC-