The young University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team played in another home-and-home split this past weekend, this time versus the Red Deer College Queens. The Dinos left the weekend still hunting for their elusive first victory, but showed serious signs of improvement following up their 3-1 loss Thur., Oct. 19 by fighting tooth and claw Sat., Oct. 21, leaving with a 2-2 tie to show for it.
Penalties nagged Saturday night’s game, as the Dinos were caught for a harsh 10 minor penalties. Despite a strong and aggressive penalty kill the Queens were still able to royally trounce their opponents twice, capitalizing on two man-advantages, their only goals of the night.
“We’re still getting used to the new rule emphasis on penalties,” said Dinos head coach Dean Holden. “It’s tough to change old habits.”
The Dinos showcased strong puck control all game but were only able to come up with two goals for their efforts. Second-year humanities student Danielle Boyce opened the scoring for her team early on in the second period, when the puck found her stick in front of the net after a frantic scramble from both teams, tying the game at 1-1. After giving up the lead late in the second it was forward Cat McMechan who tied up the game with a nice deflection from a shot on the point, taking advantage of a Dinos powerplay.
“It was an overall team effort,” said McMechan of her goal. McMechan earned Dinos player of the game honours. “It was just me that was in front of the net at the time.”
Neither team was able to capitalize in overtime, the score finishing in a 2-2 draw.
While the hard fought tie is reason to celebrate, the game itself was almost overshadowed by a dangerous incident that occurred late in the second period. Dinos defender Kate Nesbitt slid down for a block and took a close range slapshot to the chest. Play was stopped for nearly half an hour and a stretcher was called to help her off the ice. Nesbitt will be out at least a week, but is not seriously injured.