The football team wasn’t the only Dinos team to have a record setting weekend. The women’s hockey team set a milestone of their own by beating the University of Alberta Pandas for the first time in 11 years. The win came 11 years to the day as the Dinos last beat the Pandas on Oct. 29, 1999.
The Dinos started the game slowly and were outshot 7-1 in the first period.
“I think as a team we were lucky we went back in the dressing room after the first period 0-0 because we didn’t have our best period,” said Dinos head coach Danielle Goyette. “We knew at this point that we had to make some adjustment as a team to make sure that it didn’t happen again for the second or third.”
Hailey Wickenheiser opened the scoring in the sixth minute of the second period with a rebound goal on the power play. The Dinos were outshot 12-3 during the second period but managed to hang on to their lead. Pandas captain Leah Copeland scored a late goal in the third period to even the game up 1-1 and send it into overtime.
The teams were pretty even in overtime with shots six shots for the Dinos to five for the Pandas. There were numerous penalties during overtime. Calgary had two infractions and the Pandas had three.
The Dinos ended up scoring the game winning goal on a two man advantage after the Pandas took two delay of game penalties within 22 seconds. Elana Lovell put away a pass from Hailey Wickenheiser on the ensuing power play to score the game winning goal.
“It was back and fourth but I think our PK was our best asset that game. They played awesome. They didn’t allow a lot of shots on net,” said Goyette. “It’s only their second year in the league and to be able to beat U of A I think was a great accomplishment for the team.”
The Dinos scored both of their goals on the power play and were outshot 35-19 but managed to win the game 2-1.
“It won’t happen all the time but I think the team that will be able to capitalize on special teams is the one that’s going to win the most games during the season,” said Goyette. “When you score two goals in the power play you have to be happy with that.”
The Dinos started their second game against the U of A on Oct. 30 much stronger than the previous one. Wickenheiser scored the first goal of the game nine minutes in with an assist from Melissa Zubick. The second Dinos goal looked very much like the first with Wickenheiser scoring short handed off assists from Lovell and Zubick.
“They were not able to capitalize on their shots on net. We block everything to the outside and maybe our goalie Amanda Tapp had to make three or four good saves but after that she wasn’t that busy,” said Goyette. “When you put pressure on their defence like that, after a while it’s going to create some opportunities.”
Wickenheiser was named CIS player of the week. She leads Canada West scoring with 19 points in eight games.
“With Hailey, when you put her at the point or on power play or even during the five on five, she’s going to create a lot of things and it’s up to the players who play with her to get open and make sure she can get the puck to them,” said Goyette.