BOX SCORE
CALGARY – The University of Calgary fell to rival Mount Royal 3-1 at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Feb. 7.
The Crowchild Classic, hosted by the Calgary Flames, broke a Canada West hockey attendance record with 4,275 fans attending the game. The former record was upheld from 1971 and had 4,109 people in attendance.
“With 4,200 people here it was a chance to showcase our league and our team,” said Dinos head coach Mark Howell. “Unfortunately we didn't deliver with the effort we were expected to deliver with.”
Despite the Dinos outshooting the Cougars 28-15, goaltender Justin Cote stood on his head to help his team win the game by a score of 3-1 in a comeback win for Mount Royal.
“We generated a lot of opportunities, but we're not generating enough quality chances to score goals right now,” said Howell.
“Mount Royal played hard and Cote played really well. We shot a lot of pucks at him and we didn't get much as a group. We weren't good enough tonight for the win.”
A scoreless first period saw each team go on the power play to no avail. Cougars goaltender Justin Cote was forced to make a number of key saves for Mount Royal to keep them in the contest.
Dino Max Ross opened up the scoring in the second, taking a pass from Alex Dzielski and burying it past Cote for his seventh of the season.
It would take until the last thirty seconds of the third for Mount Royal to tie the game up at one. A shot from the short side made its way past Dinos goaltender Dustin Butler from Eric Galbraith to even it up just before the end of the period. Shots on goal favoured the Dinos 14-10 heading into the third.
The Cougars got the go ahead goal at the beginning of the third period from Devin Gannon. With a rebound let up by goaltender Butler, the rookie forward was able to put it past the Dinos goalie for Mount Royal's second goal of the night with 16 minutes to go.
With less than a minute to go, the Cougars scored an empty netter goal to solidify the win. Galbraith got his second of the night and his 16th of the season.
Awaiting results from throughout the league, the Dinos will need to wait to see where they finish in the playoff mix.
“We're fighting for home ice and now it's out of our hands. We have to hope for somebody else to do their job to get us that home playoff series,” said Howell.
Calgary currently sits in fourth and would be hosting a Canada West men's hockey quarterfinal, should that position hold up at the end of the weekend.
The Dinos (16-11-0) and the Cougars (7-18-2) will close out their regular seasons tomorrow night at Flames Community Arenas at 7 p.m.
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