Calgary Dinos, Mount Royal Cougars split Crowchild Classic hockey war

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Followers jammed the Dome on Wednesday evening for the Crowchild Traditional — hockey version.

Ultimately, every Calgary faculty had one thing to have a good time, because the College of Calgary Dinos received the ladies’s sport, whereas the Mount Royal College Cougars proved victorious in a shootout to wrap up the boys’s match.

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Courtney Kollman broke open a scoreless sport together with her ninth purpose of the yr early within the third interval to spark the Dinos girls’s hockey crew to a 2-0 win over the No. 2 Mount Royal Cougars on Wednesday in entrance of 10,474 followers contained in the Scotiabank Saddledome for the annual Crowchild Traditional.

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Kollman, who spent the previous two seasons with the Cougars earlier than transferring to Calgary to proceed her schooling, redirected a shot by Dana Wooden from the blue line that went five-hole for the sport’s first purpose 7:13 into the third.

“I noticed Liz (Lang) cross it as much as Dana and I believed ‘I’ve bought to get to the entrance of the online,’” Kollman recalled concerning the sport winner. “I do know (MRU keeper Kaitlyn) Ross is an effective goalie so I simply needed to get in her eyes and by chance I bought a persist with it and it went between her legs.”

Elizabeth Lang would add an empty netter to seal this one up late within the contest.

The win is a giant one for the Dinos, who now transfer to 10-13-2 on the yr and declare a tighter maintain on the fifth playoff spot with three video games left on their schedule. In the meantime, MRU strikes to 18-5 on the yr and is true in the midst of a good battle close to the highest of the Canada West standings.

After a scoreless first that featured simply 10 mixed photographs, the 2 groups opened issues up a bit of extra within the second interval. With simply 3:05 left within the body, Sydney Benko had a breakaway likelihood, however her blast was devoured up by the glove of Gabriella Durante.

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Moments later with the Dinos on the ability play, Caitlyn Perlinger had a rip from distance that appeared destined for the again of the online, solely to see the puck poked away by a defender’s stick on the final second.

After a mixed 21 photographs between the 2 groups within the first two durations, the ultimate body featured one other 21, because the groups went finish to finish a lot of occasions searching for the sport winner.

Lower than a minute earlier than Kollman’s purpose, it appeared as if it will be MRU who would get on the board first. However Durante made one other highlight-level save, turning away a backhander level clean together with her blocker earlier than slamming the door on the rebound.

After a lot of sturdy defensive moments by the Dinos going up towards a determined MRU squad that emptied its internet, Calgary put this one away as Lang scored her tenth of the season.

“It’s a bit of nerve-wracking,” Kollman stated about having to shut out the sport towards a high-powered MRU assault with an additional attacker. “We had quite a lot of blocked photographs on the finish. We battled laborious within the D zone and we didn’t allow them to get a lot by means of to the online. And Gabby stood on her head again there for us.

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“She (Durante) makes taking part in on the market quite a bit simpler for us. We will belief her. If there’s an odd-man rush or a shot, we all know she’s most likely saving it. It offers quite a lot of confidence with the ability to play in entrance of her.”

Durante completed the evening with 21 saves for her second shutout of the yr.

The 2 groups will end off their season collection Friday with a 7 p.m. contest from the Flames Neighborhood Area.

MEN’S HOCKEY

Connor Bouchard and Connor Blake each scored within the shootout to ship the Cougars to a comeback 3-2 shootout win over the Dinos males in one other memorable chapter of the annual Crowchild Traditional earlier Wednesday on the Dome.

Carl Tetachuk was unimaginable in internet for the Dinos, racking up a season-high 39 saves on the evening.

Shane Farkas was named the primary star of the evening after, making 18 saves in internet for the Cougars, preserving the Dinos out of the online on each their shootout makes an attempt.

With the win, MRU strikes to 18-5 on the yr for 36 factors with 23 video games performed. After selecting up a degree, the Dinos transfer right into a tie for first place with UBC at 19-4-2 with 25 video games performed.

The Dinos wasted no time giving their followers one thing to cheer about as Jake Gricius whipped a pointy wrist shot previous Farkas simply 22 seconds into the sport. Gricius’ purpose shattered the report for the quickest purpose scored within the Crowchild Traditional, breaking Matt Alfaro’s purpose 2:10 within the ‘Dome again in 2018.

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After netting the early purpose, it was the Cougars attempting to play catchup the remainder of the opening interval, unleashing wave after wave on the assault. However, Tetachuk wowed the Calgary trustworthy a number of occasions with a number of clutch and inconceivable saves, together with an unimaginable no-look behind-the-back glove save that may you nearly should see to imagine.

Due to Tetachuk’s sturdy play, the Dinos carried the 1-0 lead into the second body.

The Cougars efficiently carried over the momentum into the second interval of play, peppering a flurry of pucks on internet. MRU lastly cracked Tetachuk’s armour halfway by means of the interval when the nation’s main level scorer Connor Bouchard confirmed off his playmaking expertise making a slick behind-the-net cross to teammate Jaden Senkoe, who took benefit of a small window on the best aspect of the online and flipped dwelling his eighth purpose of the yr.

Though it was the Cougar’s who scored, the purpose appeared to re-energize Calgary’s offence which had laid dormant for the reason that opening minute of the sport. With 3:07 remaining within the second, the Cougars would take a tripping penalty that proved expensive. Calgary’s prime line was capable of finding some area to function and when a Noah King slapshot was turned away by Farkas, Colson Gengenbach – the hat trick-scoring hero of final yr’s Crowchild Traditional – discovered the puck on his stick in entrance of the online. Gengenbach patiently waited for a chance to elevate the puck previous the Cougars goalie, giving the Dinos the 2-1 lead.

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In a back-and-forth third interval, the Dinos practically had the sport closed out, however a powerful push by Mount Royal noticed Blake Stevenson simply dribble one previous the pads of Tetachuk to tie issues up with simply over seven minutes remaining.

The remaining jiffy of regulation and the 5 minutes of time beyond regulation have been crammed with numerous thrilling goal-scoring probabilities that have been met with an equal quantity of saves by each goalkeepers – who each have been the celebs of the sport.

With the sport going to a shootout for the primary time within the males’s set up of the Traditional, Bouchard and Blake each went to the backhand to search out the again of the online, whereas Farkas was in a position to stonewall each of Calgary’s first two skaters to convey the MRU bench dashing the NHL ice in celebration.

Each groups will return to motion Friday evening for a rematch at Father David Bauer Area. Tune into Canada West TV for the 7 p.m puck drop.

— Courtesy Darnell Wyke & Tim Prahl

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