CALGARY – One night after a painfully close 4-3 overtime loss, the University of Calgary Dinos women's hockey team bounced back with a 2-0 shutout win over the Regina Cougars at Father David Bauer Arena Saturday evening to earn a weekend split.

In front of a great crowd that helped bring the energy into FDB, Amelia Awad made 32 saves for her second career shutout win.

After Friday's barn-burning first period that saw five goals in the first 20 minutes, things were much quieter in Saturday's opening frame. The Dinos opened the scoring with a power play goal by Sydney Mercier at the 16:03 mark. Mercier collected the puck following a shot from Miri Licis, skated around the defense and buried her second of the season to give Calgary the early lead.

"I've been in the slums lately, so it was nice to get a goal, Mercier said. "Coach told me to shoot more, so I was just looking for opportunities to get shots off and saw an opportunity so I took a shot."

The Cougars would be unable to respond, ending the first period with an even number of seven shots per team. Regina goalie Natalie Williamson and Awad showcased a number of impressive saves each tonight against some incredibly difficult shots. 

Regina ramped up the pressure in the second, aided by a number of Dinos' penalties to put the Cougars on the power play. But, despite dominating the shot total 13-7 in the period, Regina was unable to get anything past Awad. The Calgary keeper did have some help, as Dinos forward Brooklyn Anderson sacrificed herself with a number of body blocks to keep the puck away from the Dinos' net.

Things stayed the same throughout the majority of the third. Regina outshot Calgary 12-4 over the final 20 minutes, but the score remained the same until the waning moments when Anderson was able to add an empty-net goal shorthanded with just 50 seconds left on the clock to wrap this one up.

"After yesterday's game, we needed a bounce back," Anderson said. "The first period was really good. Second period we were challenged a bit more, but we held it together. We got three out of four points this weekend, so it feels pretty good."

Calgary continues its homestand next weekend as UBC comes to FDB, while the Cougars return to Alberta, this time to take on the Pandas in Edmonton.

-UC-