REGINA, Sask. – It's a battle of the top two squads in the Canada West standings this weekend as the No. 9-ranked University of Regina's women's hockey team hosts No. 2 Calgary this weekend at The Co-operators Centre.
Puck drop for both Friday and Saturday is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The last meetings between these two teams – which were played in Calgary back in October – served as sort of a coming-out party for the Cougars. They were defeated 3-0 by the Dinos in the Friday affair and fell to 2-3-0 on the season, but surprised then-No. 1 Calgary with a 4-3 win thanks to a Paige Wheeler overtime goal.
That win sparked the Cougars to victories in 10 of their next 11 games, a string which vaulted them into second place in the conference standings and propelled the team into the CIS Top Ten. The U of R was riding a seven-game winning streak – the fourth longest in program history – but saw it come to a halt last Saturday with a road loss to Lethbridge.
The Cougars (13-5-0) enter the weekend with 26 points on the season, three behind first-place Calgary and two ahead of second-place Alberta.
Rianne Wight is tied for fourth in Canada West with a team-leading 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) and continues to make her mark on the University of Regina record book. The fifth-year forward is fourth on the school's all-time list with 47 goals and trails third-place Erin Tady by just one, and Wight is also tied with Kelsey Rezansoff for fifth on the career points list with 88.
Paige Wheeler is second on the Cougars with seven goals and tied for second with 14 points, and became the eighth player in school history to collect 80 career points with a goal in last Saturday's game at Lethbridge. Second-year forward Stephanie Sawchuk will almost certainly at least triple her points output from her rookie season, as she notched her fifth goal of the year last Friday and is tied with Wheeler with 14 points.
With points in five of her last seven Canada West games, second-year blueliner Carleen Meszaros leads the team's defencemen with four goals and nine points on the year. Fifth-year defenceman Hillary Lerat has a career-high seven points, while rookie Alexis Larson has three goals and three assists in 16 games.
With goalie Toni Ross unavailable for the Lethbridge series last weekend, head coach Sarah Hodges went with Jennifer Schmidt in back-to-back games. Schmidt has a 2.35 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage this year, while Ross – who should return to the Cougar lineup this weekend – is 6-1 with a 1.63 goals-against average and a sparkling .938 save percentage.
Like the Cougars, Calgary is also coming off a loss as the Dinos were edged 2-1 by UBC at home last Saturday. That setback snapped a six-game winning streak for Calgary, which comes into the weekend sporting an impressive 14-3-1 conference record.
Despite playing in only 12 of Calgary's 18 games,
Hayley Wickenheiser is Canada West's leader in both assists (15) and points (23).
Stephanie Ramsay leads the conference's rearguards in goals (9), assists (10), and points (19), while
Iya Gavrilova has chipped in with eight goals in 12 games played and
Jenna Smith has scored seven times.
Calgary, which enters the weekend with an 11-6 edge in the all-time series, will host Manitoba next weekend as the Canada West schedule draws near its final few weeks before postseason.
The Cougars are right back at home next weekend with a pair of games against Mount Royal at The Co-operators Centre.
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