CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos womens hockey team used a strong comeback effort in the third period to secure a 4-2 win over the Trinity Western Spartans at Father David Bauer Arena Friday night. 

"We really liked the third period," Calgary interim head coach Josh Gosling said after the win. "The team came out strong and with details and determination. This has to matter for the group and when the details matter to the team, we get above pucks and put them in the right spots. It has to matter when the puck drops. We want to be a driver, we're in a fighting spot for a playoff opportunity and into the second half of the season we can play the right way to make that happen."

Jess Martens got the scoring started on the night with her first goal of her season in the seventh minutes into the first. Martens broke free from a battle near the top of the blue line and brought the puck to the right side of the net. She managed to sneak past a pair of defenders and backhand the puck behind the Spartans netminder for a 1-0 score. 

The score stayed that way until early in the second period the Spartans came back ready and managed two goals on Dinos Gabriella Durante. Chelsea Debusschere brought the puck down the ice from the Spartans end and passed it from behind the net to Jordyn Matthews who tipped it in to tie things up at 1-1 just 1:41 into the second. 

Kate Klassen then gave the Spartans a lead later in the frame. Klassen won a battle in the neutral zone and took the puck down to the net where she managed to slide under Durantes pads, giving TWU a 2-1 lead after two.

The Dinos came out in the third noticeably sharper, paying off immediately on a goal by Josie McLeod to tie things up. Rebecca Clarke came out of the penalty box and got into the action, setting things up for her teammate as McLeod sniped one right under Fawcett's glove to tie things up at 2-2 just 1:15 into the third. 

Calgary kept the pressure mounting and once again was reward as Dana Wood scored her second of the season to give the home team a 3-2 lead with 13 minutes to play.

Elizabeth Lang then closed things out with an empty netter to start the final weekend of the calendar year off with a 4-2 win for the Dinos.

Dinos goalie Gabriella Durante, who was named U SPORTS Athlete of the Week this week, had another impressive showing Friday, finishing with 33 saves on the night. Fawcett made 27 stops for TWU.

The weekend continues Saturday afternoon with the Spartans and Dinos facing off at 2 p.m. once again at Father David Bauer Arena. 

-UC-