CALGARY — The University of Calgary Dinos opened their regular-season series against the Mount Royal Cougars with a hard-fought 2–1 victory Friday night at Father David Bauer Arena.

It was a fast start for the young Dinos men's hockey squad, who scored twice in the opening 90 seconds and held on the rest of the way to secure the win in front of their home crowd.

Third-year forward Jake Poole opened the scoring just 32 seconds into the game, converting on a feed from Mack Stewart and Adam Kydd to give Calgary an early lead. Less than a minute later, rookie Stephen Kirkpatrick doubled the advantage, finishing off an odd-man rush with a low glove-side shot through traffic. Gavin Schmidt and Wyatt Wilson drew assists on the play.

The two goals for the Dinos in the first 1:14 of Friday's game marks the third fastest two-goal start for a team in Canada West history, surpassed only by Lethbridge (1:11) in 2016 and UBC (0:59) in 2022.

Mount Royal responded early in the second period when Jayden Wiens cut the deficit in half, capitalizing on a setup from Josh Tarzwell and Connor Bouchard only 22 seconds into the frame. That goal gave the visitors life, but Calgary goaltender Carl Tetachuk, a fourth-year veteran, stood tall the rest of the way, turning aside multiple chances to preserve the lead. He finished the second period with 17 saves and would go on to add ten more to that tally in the third period.

Neither team found success on special teams, with both sides going 0-for-2 on the power play. The Cougars pressed late, pulling their goaltender in the final minute for an extra attacker, but Calgary's defensive structure and shot blocking sealed the result.

Calgary head coach Mark Howell praised the team's strong start, but acknowledged there's room for improvement as the series continues.

"Obviously we had a great start. Got out of the gate right away, two nothing. First period overall was pretty good," Howell said postgame. "They (Mount Royal) are a good team, they're going to get their chances. Second period, pretty sleepy. Didn't come out great. Got outworked, got out-hustled. Third period, our goaltending was great. Blocked some shots and battled to get the win at the end."

For Kirkpatrick, the game marked his third goal in just his third U SPORTS game, and it came against one of the Dinos' biggest rivals.

"Definitely a lot different than last weekend," said the rookie, referring to Calgary's opening-series sweep of Regina. "This team is a lot faster, a lot harder to play against, very physical, more skilled. Definitely a better test for us, but I thought that we all played well."

On his goal, Kirkpatrick said the opportunity came quickly.

"I saw my linemate [Gavin] Schmidt get blown off in the middle of the ice. It was a loose puck and I shot it low glove through some traffic, and it ended up going in." said Kirkpatrick.

The Dinos will look to carry the momentum into the rematch on Saturday night, when the two teams face off at Mount Royal's home rink.

"We just need to stick to our game," Kickpatrick said. "It's a back-to-back, we're all pretty tired, but if we keep playing the way we do, I think we're going to do very well."

With the win, the Dinos improve to 3–0 in conference play. The Cougars, now 1–2, will look to even the series when the two teams meet again Saturday night at the Flames Community Arenas.

-UC-