CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos women's hockey team defeated the MacEwan University Griffins in overtime by a score of 3-2 Friday night at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.

Down 2-1 with just 40 seconds left to play, the Dinos capitalized on a powerplay opportunity and tied the game with just 23 seconds to play. The Dinos rode their momentum into overtime and were able to complete the comeback thanks to a pretty goal by first year forward Sydney Mercier.

"Once I knew I was on the ice, I automatically knew I was a shooter," Brett Kerley - who scored the last-minute equalizer for the Dinos - said postgame. "With the accuracy of my wrist shot, it's a role I play on this team (in these types of situations). Once I got the puck, I knew just suit it up, head up and just try to rip it."

With the win, the Dinos secure fourth place in the Canada West standings, which means they will host the Saskatchewan Huskies in a best of three series next weekend.

"It's huge for us to have home ice," Kerley said. "Holding the fourth spot in this division is not something that's easy to do. Going in with confidence will be a big and overall, I think we have a strong future ahead of us and some good games coming up."

Before the game the Dinos honoured seven graduating players who played their final regular season home games as Dinos. The graduating players are Jada Burke, Annaliese Meier, Emily Hill, Alli Borrow, Jordyn Burgar, Erin Armstrong and Ashley Sutherland.

The Griffins opened up the scoring in Friday's game, capitalizing off a Dino turnover in the Griffin's zone. MacEwan's Amanda Murray received the pick near the right faceoff circle and quickly found a streaking Jennifer Andrash, who was blazing her way down the middle of the ice. Andrash received the puck and - with no one in front of her - glided uninterrupted towards the Dino goal, burying the shot in the top right corner of the net to give the Griffins a 1-0 lead.

Calgary would answer back minutes later. After a tripping penalty with 9:55 remaining in the period, the Dinos found themselves on the power play. After winning the ensuing faceoff, Ashley Sutherland patiently controlled the puck at the point, allowing Calgary fourth-year forward Brooke Dennett to slip into the right slot. Dennett received a sharp tape-to-tape pass from Sutherland and ripped a wrist shot through traffic towards the MacEwan goal. Griffins rookie goalie Lindsey Johnson could not locate the puck as it flew into the back netting, tying the game at one.

The game would remain tied until midway through the third period. A collision allowed Griffins forward Kori Patterson to corral the puck in her own end. Patterson skated down the length of the ice and drifted her way into the slot, beating stick-less Dinos goalie Gabriela Durante glove side to retake the lead 2-1.

All hope seemed lost until the Griffins took a costly penalty with just 40 seconds remaining. Jada Burke won the faceoff and the puck swung across the ice to Armstrong. Armstrong found Kerley in the slot and she rifled a wrist shot past Johnson to tie the game at 2-2. Energy surged back into Father David Bauer Arena and the Dinos carried that momentum into OT. Sydney Mercier netted her ninth goal of the season, going top cheese from point blank range, thanks to a nice feed by Rebecca Clarke.

With the win, the Dinos improve to 14-9-4 on the season and the Griffins drop to 6-19-2. Both teams will face each other Saturday night in Edmonton for the final regular season game of the 2022-23 season. The game will be hosted by MacEwan at the Downtown Community Arena, with puck drop at 5 p.m.

-UC-