BOX SCORE REGINA – Hayley Wickenheiser's hat trick led a trio of Dinos with three points on the night as No. 2 Calgary defeated the Regina Cougars 6-1 Saturday at The Co-operators Centre.

The victory, along with Friday night's 5-1 triumph, improve Calgary's record to 16-3-1 and gives the defending national champs a six-point cushion atop the Canada West standings with eight games to play. The two losses on the weekend proved costly for the Cougars, who drop into third place in the conference, one point behind Alberta in the race for the first-round playoff bye.

Wickenheiser set a pair of Canada West records in just 82 seconds at the start of the contest, scoring her ninth and 10th of the season at the 56 second mark and then at 1:22. Both goals featured the same score line – Wickenheiser from Tanya Morgan and Jenna Smith – and it marked the fastest two goals by one player in Canada West history as well as the conference mark for the fastest two goals by a team at the start of a game.

After Wickenheiser scored her first two, Erika Mitschke took up the scoring torch and potted a pair of power play goals, one midway through the first and the other early in the second. Just two minutes after Mitschke had made it 4-0, Smith found Wickenheiser again for her third of the night and sixth point of the weekend to make it 5-0.

Sinead Tracey added a sixth goal for the Dinos, this one also on the power play, while Paige Wheeler broke Amanda Tapp's shutout bid at the 12:23 mark of the third with Calgary playing shorthanded.

It was important statement weekend for the No. 2-ranked Dinos, who were upset 2-1 by the UBC Thunderbirds last weekend on home ice. It snapped a seven-game win streak for the Cougars, who had been nipping at the Dinos' heels in the standings as the season enters the stretch, and it re-established Calgary's lead as they look to grab their second straight regular season pennant.

Wickenheiser's six-point weekend moved her into sole possession of first place in the Canada West scoring race with 29 points in just 14 games, five ahead of second-place Smith with 24. By allowing just the one goal on 24 shots, Tapp also improved her lead atop the goaltending stats, with her goals-against average falling to 1.41 on the year while her save percentage improves to .939.

Toni Ross got the start between the pipes for the Cougars but was promptly yanked in favour of Jennifer Schmidt after giving up three goals on the first seven shots she faced. Schmidt faced 16 further shots from the Dinos, stopping 13 of them.

Calgary returns home next weekend to face the Manitoba Bisons (9-8-3) in a two-game series at Father David Bauer Arena, while Regina will remain home to host another team from Calgary, this time the Mount Royal Cougars.

-UC-