BOX SCORE REGINA - Tori Head scored with less than two minutes remaining in the third period, but it wasn't enough as the University of Regina Cougars dropped a 3-2 decision to the Calgary Dinos on Saturday night in Canada West women's hockey action.
Heather Berzins, Calaine Inglis and Jenna Smith all found the back of the net for the Dinos, while Amanda Tapp stopped 23 shots for her third win of the season. Kylie Gavelin scored the other Cougars' goal, and Jennifer Schmidt turned aside 18 shots in a losing effort.
The Cougars got a five-on-three power play early in the first period after the Dinos took a pair of bodychecking penalties. Despite a number of quality chances, Tapp was solid in net for Calgary. With just over five minutes to play in the frame, the Dinos drew first blood. Berzins took a feed from Jessyka Holt and one-timed it past Schmidt to put Calgary up 1-0.
The Dinos came out strong once again in the second. Inglis picked off a Cougars' pass in the slot and roofed a backhander to give the Dinos a two-goal lead. The Cougars would get another chance on the power play, but couldn't sneak one past Tapp. Calgary would go up by three before the period ended with Smith taking a pass from Janelle Parent and firing a hard wrister past Schmidt.
The Cougars finally got on the board early in the third period. On a great individual effort, Gavelin took a hard shot that just trickled through the pads of Tapp to cut the Dino's lead to one. Both teams battled hard throughout the period with plenty of physical play. After having numerous chances all game long, Tori Head's persistence finally paid off as she beat Tapp with 1:38 remaining on the clock. That was as close as the Cougars would come though, as Calgary held on for the 3-2 victory.
With the win, Calgary improves to 7-8-1 on the season, good for 15 points and sixth place in the Canada West standings. Meanwhile the Cougars see their record drop to 9-6-1, and with 19 points they currently occupy fifth place. However they are only six points off of first-place UBC.
This was the final game for both teams before the Christmas break. The Cougars' next action will come on Jan. 3 and Jan. 4 when they play host to the Lethbridge Pronghorns.
