CALGARY – Caitlyn Perlinger got the scoring started early in the second and Josie McLeod netted the eventual game winner as the University of Calgary Dinos women's hockey team held off a late charge for a 2-1 win over rival Mount Royal Thursday afternoon inside the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Amelia Awad was big down the stretch for Calgary, making 17 of her 28 saves in the final frame.

The win is the third in a row for Calgary in the annual Crowchild Classic and the sixth in the last seven. It also moves the Dinos to 14-5-4 on the season, while MRU falls to 18-6-1.

The first period saw both teams settle into the raucus atmosphere, with both Awad and Cougars goaltender Scout Anderson holding their own against the would-be goals from their opposing teams.

In the second period, Perlinger quickly got the scoring started with a snipe from the wing for her first of the season. It also marked the first goal by a Dinos defender in the Crowchild Classic since Stephanie Zvonkovic's goal in a 4-1 win back in 2014.

"We've been talking that we want to get more pucks in the net, so I got the puck and put it in the net." Perlinger laughed when asked about her goal. 

That score stood until early in the third when Josie McLeod got behind the defence and made no mistake with her third of the season.

A furious final 10 minutes from MRU saw them get on the board late with a goal from Gabby Lindsay, but it was too little too late as Awad and the Dinos' defence stood tall to close this one out.

"We did what we needed to do," Dinos head coach Josh Gosling said. "I don't think we liked the whole sixty, but I think our desperation put us in a great spot. I give the girls a ton of credit, they did what they needed to do."

Up next, the Cougars and Dinos look to face off again at Father David Bauer Arena. 

-UC-