Dinos prevent sweep as Canada West looks unpredictable
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| Huskies forward Marley Ervine, left, battles Dino Iya Gavrilova for a draw. |
Hosting the University of Calgary Dinos who limped into a
pair of games at the ancient Rutherford Rink with an unexpected 0-2 mark, the
Huskies picked up a solid 3-2 win on Friday night, but the Dinos collected
their first victory of the season with a 3-2 comeback effort on Saturday.
In Friday’s encounter, the Dogs led 2-0, 3-1 before holding
to a 3-2 victory. Paige Anakaer, Marley Ervine and Hanna McGillvray scored for
the Huskies. Chelsea Court and Stephanie Zvonkovic replied for the Dinos.
Cassidy Hendricks made 18 saves to earn the win in goal for
the hosts, while Sarah Murray turned away 27 shots taking the loss in goal for
the visitors.
The Huskies held the advantage in territorial play for
lengthy stretches on Friday night and appeared strong. The Dinos didn’t looked
like they would get a chance to make a rally until Zvonkovic pulled them to
within 3-2 scoring with 63 seconds to play in the third.
Despite the late goal to cut their edge to one, the hosts
shut things down defensively to close out Friday’s victory in solid fashion.
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| Kori Herner gets set to wire home a goal for the Huskies. |
As the opening 20 minutes came to a close, the Huskies
started string together a series of strong back-to-back shifts to turn the tide.
The hosts came out flying in the second and constantly
crashed the Dinos net with solid scoring chances holding a 14-7 in the shots on
goal department. Anakaer, who is the Huskies captain, tied things up at 1-1
just past with midway point of the frame with a gritty positive bounce goal.
Kori Herner put the Dogs up 2-1 late in the second breaking
down the left wing into the Calgary zone and wiring a shot past Dinos
goaltender Hayley Dowling.
The Huskies couldn’t hold the momentum as the Dinos answered
back with two goals that seemed to come out of nowhere to go up 3-2. Court
potted the equalizer at the 5:17 mark and Cheyann Newman picked up the winner
at the 11:37 mark.
The home side tried to push back, but the rally attempt was
big time hampered when Huskies star defender Julia Flinton was tagged with a
double minor for checking to the head with 5:49 to play in the third. The
Huskies killed off the penalties, but couldn’t find the equalizer despite mounting
pressure in the Dinos over the contest’s final 90 seconds.
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| Captain Paige Anakaer, middle, celebrates scoring for the Huskies. |
While Saturday’s setback to the Dinos might have been a bit
disappointing, the Huskies have to be happy they are off to a 3-1 start.
Their next challenge should be an interesting one. This
coming Friday and Saturday, they travel to Lethbridge to face the University of
Lethbridge Pronghorns, who are off to a surprising 4-0 start with a pair for
road sweeps over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Vancouver
and the University of Alberta Pandas in Edmonton.
The Huskies have played fairly sound structurally in their
first four outings. Going forward, they just have to keep finding ways to
improve on a day-to-day basis, because it appears the Canada West conference is
going to be up for the taking.
Sweet opening sweep
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| Jordon Cooke backstopped the Huskies to a pair of victories. |
The Dogs opened the regular season on the road in Calgary
and swept away the Dinos, who are expected to be a powerhouse this season.
On Friday, rookie forward Andrew Johnson scored 53 seconds
into overtime to lift the Huskies to a 6-5 victory. Zak Stebner, Levi Cable,
Michael Sofillas, John Lawrence and Kendall McFaull all netted singles in
regulation for the Huskies. Spencer Edwards, Chris Collins, Kevin King, Dylan
Walchuk and Elgin Pearce replied with singles for the Dinos.
Jordon Cooke made 25 stops to earn the win in goal for the Huskies,
while Steven Stanford turned away 23 shots taking the loss in the Dinos net.
The wild affair saw the Dinos lead 2-0 after the first, and
the Huskies hold leads of 3-2 and 4-3 in the second. The Dinos took a 5-4 edge
in the third, before the Huskies forced overtime.
On Saturday, Johnson scored a short-handed goal at the 11:36
mark of the second, and that proved to be the difference in a 1-0 victory.
Cooke made 27 stops for his second career CIS shutout, while Myles Hovdebo
turned away 21 shots taking the setback in the Dinos goal.
The Huskies open their home schedule this coming Friday and
Saturday when they host the Lethbridge Pronghorns (1-1) at 7 p.m. both nights
at the Rutherford Rink.
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