CALGARY – Great goaltending was not enough for the University of Calgary Dinos women's hockey team this past weekend as they dropped both games against the UBC Thunderbirds. Turning the page, the Dinos will play a home-and-home set against the University of Alberta Pandas this weekend.
Despite exceptional netminding from
Kelsey Roberts, the Dinos struggled to find the scoresheet, making it two consecutive weekends where the squad scored just once. The Dinos latest goal scorer,
Sage Desjardins, scored on a beautiful deflection in Saturday's 4-1 loss.
Desjardins had several good chances over the weekend and has shown growth as a player.
"The biggest difference for me personally this season is just feeling more confident in myself. I worked really hard this summer to be prepared for this coming season in hopes of making more of an impact and helping the team win more games."
Despite the two losses, the team has shown progress. Three of the team's first four games have been one-goal games and could have easily had a different result.
"The team dynamic has for sure changed," explained Desjardins. "You can feel it in the dressing room and on the ice, all the girls are way more into it this year. We all want to be at the rink and win and play hockey.
"It does feel like a different team. We have more experience and I think it shows in how we have started the season."
The visiting Pandas have been good against the Dinos over the past two seasons, posting a six wins in eight games during regular season play.
With two more tough games ahead, Desjardins believes that continuing to play the way they have will give them success this weekend.
"I think we need to stick with what works for us which is our forecheck and work ethic. If we can start right from puck drop and play hard for a whole 60 minutes, capitalize on some chances and put more pucks in the net, we will have a very good series against them."
This weekend's games will begin Friday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. as the Dinos travel north to the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton before returning back home, Saturday, Oct. 21 for a 6 p.m. puck drop at the Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.
