CALGARY – Kicking off the second half of the 2024-2025 season after the winter break, the University of Calgary Dinos fell to cross-city rival Mount Royal Friday night in a battle at Father David Bauer arena in a goal-fest of a game that finished 7-4 in favour of the visitors.

The Cougars were dominant throughout all three periods of play, quickly creating a 3-0 deficit for the Dinos after the first 20 minutes. Blake Stevenson opened the lead halfway through, receiving a tip pass from Connor Bouchard before finding the back of the net. That first tally was soon followed up with a second, thanks to a Josh Tarzwell tap in. The last goal of the first period came with three and a half minutes left, due to a Dinos turnover in their own end, which was easily capitalized on by the Cougars where Robbie Holmes took a shot and cleaned up his own rebound, putting the Cougars up 3-0.

The second period started very much the same as the first, with lots of back and forth of possession before the score sheet was lit up. Following a huge hit on the Cougars, Logen Hammett picked up the puck before passing it off to Dallon Melin, who found Brendan Lee across the crease, and put it past Cougars' goaltender Shane Farkas for his first of the season. Shortly after, the Cougars regained their three-goal lead, courtesy of Bouchard. That lead was cut short as Jake Gricius rushed up the ice, feeding the centre slot before finding Dylan Sydor for a one-timer that rocketed past Farkas. With two minutes left in the second period, Sydor returned the favour, setting up Gricius for the Dinos third mark, trailing 4-3 to finish out the period.

Less than two minutes into the final frame, the Dinos slipped in the tying tally on a sneaky wraparound from Melin. It wasn't until halfway through the period that the Cougars regained their lead on a power play goal by Justin Lies. The five-goal total was quickly succeeded by a sixth from Jayden Wiens, before closing out the game with an empty net goal from Clay Hanus, finalizing a 7-4 win for the Cougars.

"We were not ready to play at the level needed to play. Mount Royal's intensity and quickness and effort in the first period was much higher than ours. We managed to dig ourselves out of it, getting back 4-3 and then 4-4. Then bad turnovers, bad penalties, and lose the game," Calgary head coach Mark Howell mentioned postgame.

"We'll talk tonight and come up with the game plan tomorrow. The biggest one is working really, really hard against them. Mount Royal works, they compete, they play fast. If you're not ready to win races, you make simple plays, it's a tough game and you chase it."

The Dinos and Cougars will continue their weekend at the Flames Community Arenas with a 7 p.m. puck drop Saturday evening.

-UC-