CALGARY – Doing all their scoring in the first period, the Mount Royal University Cougars were led by goaltender Cam Lanigan en route to a 2-0 win over the No. 4 University of Calgary Dinos on Thursday night in the Crowchild Classic at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Held to just 19 shots, the Dinos' offence struggled to generate opportunities in the offensive zone despite coming off a weekend where they scored 11 times in two games. Matthew Brown and Jamie King put the Cougars in front after one period and would shut down Calgary the rest of the way with Lanigan notching his first CIS shutout.

"Mount Royal had great will, determination and work ethic, and we did not match it tonight. They work hard and put a lot of pressure on you and we did not respect what we needed to do to match it," said Dinos bench boss Mark Howell. "They work hard and skate. They are determined to force you to make a lot of quick decisions and we did not win enough battles."

Playing before a CIS men's hockey regular season record crowd of 8,882, the Cougars move into a tie with the Dinos for second in the Canada West standings. Both teams have a 15-8-0 record with five games left in the season to decide who earns a first round bye in the post-season.

"We cannot take Mount Royal lightly, they have beat us three times now. If we want to beat them we have to outwork and outcompete them," shared Aspen Sterzer. "We would have liked to have got a win for the fans, they were awesome. I do not think I ever played a Western Hockey League game like that at the Saddledome."

A frantic pace to the opening frame resulted in nervous play from both sides. After killing off a pair of penalties, Mount Royal went on a man advantage of their own and buried a shot quickly. Mackenzie Johnston's attempt from the blue line hit Brown on its way past Kris Lazaruk and in. The goal at 7:50 was Brown's 10th of the year.

Carrying momentum, the Cougars doubled their lead to 2-0 when J. King came out from behind the goal and fired a shot over the shoulder of Lazaruk for his third of the season at 13:07. The Dinos picked up the pace in the late stages of the first but would trail by two after 20 minutes.

"The urgency was not there [in the first period]," explained Sterzer, who was named the game's third star. "It took a little while for us to get into it and they scored quickly. 19 shots is not nearly enough."

The 2-0 score remained the same through the second period with the play leveling out. The Dinos' best opportunity came as Chris Collins dangled through the Mount Royal defence before having the puck poked loose at the last moment.
Shots continued to be hard to come by for Calgary in the final frame. Still down by a pair of goals in the dying minutes, Howell pulled Lazaruk for an extra attacker. Again though, the Cougars turned away Calgary's shots to the net – allowing Lanigan to record the shutout.

Mount Royal outshot Calgary 23-19. The Dinos went 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Cougars went 1-for-4.

Crowchild Classic action continues Friday, Jan. 16, at the home of the Cougars the Flames Community Arenas. Puck drop is 7:00pm.

-UC-