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CALGARY – The powerful University of Calgary Dinos' offence was put on the backburner and replaced with a defensive approach as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation defeated the University of Regina Cougars 3-0 at Father David Bauer Arena on Friday night.

“I thought tonight was really good battling game, we tried to work on our defensive zone coverage and that was a big thing for us,” explained Jenna Smith.

With the win Calgary improves to 5-0-0 on the year and remains one of two teams still undefeated in the conference along with Alberta, who beat Saskatchewan at home. Regina falls to 2-3-0 on the campaign and sit among the middle of the pack in the Canada West standings.

“Tonight we focused on our coverage, a win is a win, but we know we can play better,” said head coach Danielle Goyette. “Tomorrow we have to show up and play a notch better, we have a high expectation for this team and the score doesn't matter for us, it's about how we perform and how we can improve day after day.”

The home side had problems communicating in the first period, resulting in takeaways and chances for the Cougars. Captain Rianne Wight got two of Regina's best opportunities, but was unable to solve Amanda Tapp who made 22 saves on the evening to record the shutout.

Despite their slow start, Calgary would get on the board first at 13:17 when talented sniper Iya Gavrilova had the puck along the right side of the goal. Instead of attempting to score for herself, Gavrilova delivered a backdoor pass to Smith on the opposite side who tapped in the 1-0 marker.

Just over a minute later, Heather Berzins extended the Dino advantage. A shot from the blue line by Melissa Zubick didn't get through, but Berzins was in the right place to put a rebound past Toni Ross.

Calgary came out and controlled the majority of the second period with strong possessions from their forwards. A two-on-one between Hayley Wickenheiser and Smith resulted in Smith recording her second goal of the night at 7:23 of the middle stanza.

“It's so cool knowing I'm playing with two Olympians right now,” mentioned Smith.  “All the great plays they make, you think you're just going to the net for a rebound, but all of a sudden the puck will be on your stick and it's just putting it in, the make it easy for me”.

The third period saw the Dinos shutdown defensively and limited the Cougars from any clear scoring chances. The strong play early by players like Wight and Stephanie Sawchuk on Regina was hardly seen in the third as they were contained and were held off the score sheet.
    
The Dinos and Cougars meet up at Father David Bauer Arena again tomorrow night with puck drop at 6 p.m.  Calgary takes off for Manitoba next weekend as they battle the Bisons on Oct. 26-27. Regina returns to Calgary next weekend as they take on Mount Royal on Oct. 26-27.