It was a David versus Goliath contest and this time Goliath kicked the snot out of David.
The Dinos women’s hockey team defeated the Mount Royal Cougars 2-1 on Friday and followed that up with a 6-0 walloping on Saturday. Everything went perfectly for the Dinos at the Olympic Oval Saturday night and they improved their stranglehold on first place in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference standings, moving four points up on the second place SAIT Trojans.
The Dinos have been on a roll of late, winning their last three games by a combined score of 16 goals for and only two against. Dinos forward Shannon Davidson said their recent domination was fun.
“The first time after we won 7-0 we realized how fun it was and that we’re actually able to do it,” said Davidson. “The Dinos girls haven’t been able to do that for the last three years. Now that we know we can do it, we want to keep going. It’s just the drive and the fun.”
Teammate and defenceman Casey Irving said their recent achievements were still tricky to accomplish.
“We definitely break down at points, but we have to minimize the times we break down and not give them their chances and capitalize on our chances,” said Irving. “We just have to focus on the little things for everything to work well. We started off slow, but once we got the puck in the net it snowballed and our goals came. We didn’t give up, even though we were in the lead.”
In the first period Saturday, the Dinos jumped out to the early lead as Becky Niehaus sent the puck through the legs of Cougars goalie Leanne Pfliger on a wraparound. This was the only goal of the period despite tremendous pressure from the Dinos.
The second period was the most exciting of the evening as four goals were scored, all by the Dinos. The first goal found the back of the net as Erin Davidson tipped in an Irving point shot. Not to be outdone by her teammates, and wanting to get in on the fun, Tiara Schoenroth scooped up a rebound off another Irving point shot and buried the rebound, making the score 3-0. Lianne Legere and Sinead Tracy scored the other two second period goals. Irving said the Dinos passing was key to their scoring.
“I’d say our passes were on a lot better than they were last night,” said Irving.
Perhaps the most beautiful goal of the evening came in the third period. While it was the only goal of the period, it was awesome. With a delayed penalty called against Mount Royal, Danielle Boyce passed the puck to Elana Lovell who broke in alone on the Cougar net. Doing what she does best– scoring– she ripped the puck top shelf and the goalie never had a chance.
The Dinos used their speed and skill to their advantage throughout the game and simply outworked Mount Royal.
“Just by keeping our feet moving, we’re faster than them and we have a lot of skill,” said Shannon Davidson. “We can walk around them if we want.”
Goaltender Katie Urness was not tested often en route to her sixth shutout of the season, as she only faced 16 shots, most of which were not dangerous. Mount Royal only produced a couple of really good scoring chances, but were stopped by the stout Dinos defence. The Dinos lead the league and have only allowed 22 goals this season.
They also lead the league for goals scored with 59.
The Dinos will be looking to keep up momentum as the playoffs near. It is hard work, determination and the desire to have fun, through winning, that will propel the Dinos forward.
“I’m very happy,” said Davidson. “Any time we can win with a big margin, we’re having a good time and it is more fun that way. I hope we can keep this going and keep having fun.”