CALGARY – Three power play goals tipped the scales against the University of Calgary Dinos women's hockey team Friday night, resulting in a 4-2 win for the University of Alberta Pandas from Father David Bauer Arena.

The first game of the home-and-home weekend set moved the Pandas forward to 6-1 for the season, with the Dinos falling to 2-5.

"I thought we worked hard. We battled with them and we showed that we can play with them, and the girls persevered," said Josh Gosling, the new interim head coach for the Dinos. "We had a lot of girls pushing hard today."

The game opened with both teams playing hard right out of the gate, with the first period finishing with 12 shots for the Dinos and 10 for the Pandas.

Jada Johns started the game off strong, scoring the first goal with a wrist shot after a great rush up the ice, beating Pandas goalie Halle Oswald glove high. Courtney Kollman scored quickly after on a breakaway, intercepting a pass and sliding the puck through Oswald's pads. The Pandas got one back before the end of the first on a nifty two on one that finished with a great pass from Izzy Lajoie to Natalie Kieser, cutting the Dinos lead to 2-1 after one.

The second period had seven penalties between the two teams as both gave a hard effort. The Pandas tied the game up on a power play goal from Sara Kazeil, with a pass in front of the net from Cassidy Maplethorpe beating Dinos goalie Gabriella Durante. It looked like the game would be deadlocked after two, but Lajoie scored with eight seconds left in the period, tipping the puck in off the toe of Durante's pad to give Alberta a 3-2 edge.

The effort of both teams continued into the third, with a hard-fought battle sending the puck between each end of the ice. Another Pandas power play resulted in the team's fourth goal, with Lajoie able to circle around the front of the net, taking a shot that found its way past a screened Durante.

Durante finished with 34 saves, while Oswald was credited with 22.

"(Tomorrow) we're in the small rink, so we can put more pressure on the team," Gosling noted. "We're going to have to move the puck, but keeping a lot of the stuff from today and adjusting the penalty kill will set us up for success."

The Dinos head up to Edmonton for a rematch against the Pandas Saturday at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on Canada West TV. 

-UC-