BOX SCORE

CALGARY – A pair of goals 96 seconds apart midway through the third period proved the difference as the No. 3 University of Calgary Dinos captured Game 1 of the Canada West women's hockey championship series with a 3-1 victory over the Alberta Pandas Friday night at Canada Olympic Park.

With the score tied 1-1 and just over 12 minutes to play, Hayley Wickenheiser found Iya Gavrilova, who made a sensational move to the backhand to beat Alberta netminder Kaitlyn Chapman to give Calgary the lead. And just over a minute and a half later, Wickenheiser herself beat Chapman with a 15-foot wrister to add some insurance.

The win gives Calgary a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series, with Game 2 set for Saturday night at 8 p.m. MT. The Dinos will be looking to close out the Pandas and win their first-ever Canada West title, while the Pandas, looking for their 12th, will hope to send the series to a deciding game on Sunday. CanadaWest.tv has live streaming coverage of the series.

Dinos head coach Danielle Goyette praised her team, which battled through a stifling Alberta defence through the neutral zone all night and got a great effort from its penalty killers.

“The first period we played well, we were disciplined, and we knew what we had to do,” said Goyette, the five-year Calgary bench boss. “In the second we were undisciplined, and it changed the momentum of the game. Credit to our PK tonight, they had a lot of ice time and they really did well. In the third, we knew that if we played smart and as a team, we could have success. We never stopped battling, and that's important because we know it won't be an easy game – and they shouldn't be easy at this time of year.”

Gavrilova opened the scoring with her fourth goal of the playoffs at 19:05 of the first with the Dinos on the power play. The Russian national teamer set up in the slot and one-timed a feed from Wickenheiser with a bullet to the top corner.

Alberta's Sarah Hilworth tied it up for the Pandas just over a minute into the second period, also on a power play. With Dinos netminder Amanda Tapp having made the initial save and prone on the ice, Hilworth grabbed the loose puck and lifted it into the gaping cage.

The Pandas had some great chances to take the lead late in the second and early in the third with a pair of abbreviated 5-on-3 opportunities, but they were never able to set up effectively in the Calgary zone and the Dinos managed to kill off both two-man advantage situations.

The score remained tied until the 7:57 mark of the third when Gavrilova took the Wickenheiser feed, skated around the defenceman, and made a great move to slide the puck past Chapman's left skate.

“The two goals she scored tonight were pretty amazing,” said Goyette of Gavrilova. “On that first goal, she's been practicing that 'Ovechkin' shot all year, and she sure picked a good time to put it in!”

With her three-point performance, Wickenheiser now has a goal and eight assists through three postseason games, while Gavrilova easily leads all playoff players with six goals.

Chapman made 24 saves in the loss for Alberta, while Tapp turned aside 19 Pandas shots. Calgary held the edge on the shot clock 27-20, while both teams scored on one of their power play opportunities: Calgary went 1-for-7, while the Pandas scored once on their eight power play opportunities.

The puck drops at 8 p.m. Saturday night for Game 2, live on CanadaWest.tv.

-UC-