CALGARY – Kaden Elder scored with 16 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime for the University of Calgary Dinos, but it was the Mount Royal Cougars who prevailed with a 5-4 double-overtime win in the eighth annual Crowchild Classic.
Through 40 minutes of play at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Cougars looked en route to a legitimate crosstown smackdown. Trailing by three, the Dinos roared back with a trio of special teams tallies in the third period to put on a show for the 6737 fans from both institutions.
Teams traded goals again in the late stages of the third before heading into extra time where Ryley Lindgren produced the game-winning goal at 3:10 of the second overtime.
"Our team loves the fight to stay in games and that's exactly what we did," said Dinos head coach
Mark Howell. "They just outplayed us in the second period, there is no way around that. I think that third period really showed our character, we got physical and started skating a little harder."
The win is the first for Mount Royal at the Crowchild Classic since 2015 and the fourth overall to even the all-time series at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Following a contested but scoreless first period, the Cougars got on the scoreboard with a goal mid-way through the middle frame. A shot from the right side deflected onto the stick of Chris Gerrie who made no mistake putting it past a diving
Brodan Salmond.
The Cougars kept it coming in the second period, adding goals from Hunter Zandee and Allan MacPherson to take a convincing 3-0 lead into the second intermission.
After several failed attempts on the power play in the first 40 minutes, the Dinos finally clicked with
Mitch Cook finding the back of the net 46 seconds into the third.
Calgary wasn't done there either as just minutes later, on another man advantage,
James Shearer redirected the puck past Riley Morris to make it a one-goal game with plenty of time remaining.
A five-minute major to the Dinos with 12 minutes to play allowed the Cougars to burn a significant amount of time off the clock, but it did not stop Calgary from tying the game.
A shot from the point rung around the Dinos' boards resulting in what looked to be a casual play for Morris in his own end. The puck jumped off the stick of the Cougars goaltender and right to the blade of
Coda Gordon, who buried the puck into the open cage.
Sean Richard put the Cougars up 4-3 late in the third, but for the second year in a row, the Dinos scored in the final minute – this time from Elder to force overtime.
Mount Royal outshot Calgary 7-5 across the two overtime periods and ultimately earned the game's extra point when Keegan Iverson capitalized on a turnover to setup Lindgren's winner.
The Dinos will look to get back in the win column on Friday night as they host the Cougars at the Father David Bauer Arena at 7 p.m to wrap up their regular season series.
