BOX SCORE CALGARY- Having lost 1-0 to the No. 10 University of Alberta Pandas in Friday night's game, the University of Calgary Dinos refused to let that happen at home as they won their own 1-0 game in a 12-round shootout on Saturday night at Father David Bauer Arena.
After just one goal last night, another 70 minutes of play saw neither side find the back of the net. Trading saves and goals in an extended shootout, Erika Mitschke finally sealed it in the twelfth round with a slick back-hand shot. The win proved to the Dinos and the rest of the conference that they are still a team capable of beating anyone.
"We worked on our D-zone a lot this week and not giving them time, and tonight we really emphasized and executed that," said head coach Kelly Bechard. "Overtime 4-on-4 was some great hockey."
With tonight's win Calgary improves to 6-7-1, while Alberta falls to 7-4-2.
After finding themselves on the wrong side of a defensive battle last night, the Dinos came out looking for vengeance, holding the Pandas to just four shots in the first period
Through 20 minutes of play the score was at a stand still. The biggest opportunity of the first period came at the six-minute mark when the Pandas were given their first power play of the game, but were held to only one shot that was redirected in front. Hayley Dowling saw it coming the whole way and made an easy save.
Midway through the middle stanza it appeared as if Calgary would break the deadlock on a two-on-one, Chelsea Peterson made a saucer pass to Tracey Sinead who deked-out Lindsey Post, only to miss the open net.
Not even a minute later during some four-on-four situation, the puck was narrowly deflected past Post's post to keep the game at zero.
Both teams made a parade to the penalty box but no goal was found by either team's power play through 40 minutes of play.
The beginning of the third period had both teams exchanging shots only to have both goaltenders hold the game at zero. Midway through the third the Dinos once again had an opportunity to pull ahead with a cross-crease pass from Janelle Parent. Jenna Smith's stick was held up by an Alberta defender to keep the puck from going in.
With several great shots coming off the wall Dowling showed she wasn't giving anything up easily as this game headed to overtime.
With nothing being solved in overtime, the game headed to a shootout. The Pandas outshot the Dinos 4-3 in the extra session.
Through twelve rounds of shooters Calgary came out the victor. Heading into the 12th round, four goals had been scored by each team before Mitschke capitalized to put the Dinos ahead. Katie Stewart had the game on her stick with her fourth attempt of the shootout but was denied by Dowling to end the game.
"It was exciting, we got to see what our girls could do. We had confidence and used that to score," explained Bechard.
Calgary will head to Regina next weekend, Nov 29-30 to play the University of Regina in their last two games of this semester.
Alberta will face the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg next weekend, Nov. 29-30, to close out their semester.
