Women’s hockey finals now best of three

After a pair of home wins for both the Mount Royal University Cougars and the NAIT Ooks, the ACAC women’s hockey championship is now on to a best of three game series.

On Friday night, the Cougars suited up in front of the home town faithful, playing at Calgary’s Centennial Arena, where they have been a rock-solid 12-3 this season, including a perfect 3-0 in the playoffs.

Their perfect home record in the playoffs was put in jeopardy early though, as off the opening faceoff, Kendel Jurista took a feed from Lacie Richard and wristed it top corner just nine seconds into the opening frame to give the Ooks the 1-0 lead.

Ten minutes later, with Sharina Filion in the penalty box for goaltender interference, Chelsey Morrill would find retribution for the Cougars as she took the puck from centre ice, dangled around the Ooks defender and found the back of the net past Meghan Witt to even the scoring at one apiece.

The Cougars would get their first lead of the series on the powerplay, as Brianna Bird took a nifty pass from Chilla Fedoruk and lasered one home to give the Cougs’ the 2-1 advantage at 6:09 of the second period.

The game would remain scoreless until the middle of the third period, with the Cougars yet again on the powerplay as Brianna Bird would make the most of her opportunity, as she took a pass from Shyla Stadnicki and found a gapping net to give the Cougars the 3-1 lead.

The two goal lead would remain intact until the dying minute of the third period, as the Ooks found themselves on the man advantage.

With Jesslyn Legasse sitting in the box for tripping, the Ooks would captailize on a late powerplay opportunity, connecting for a goal with 30 seconds left, but it was too little too late, as the Cougars would pull out the 3-2 victory and game one in the best of five game series.
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On Saturday, the Cougars and Ooks would make the return trip back to Edmonton for game two of the series, this time at the NAIT Arena where the Cougars were a perfect 3-0 during the regular season.

The Ooks would open the scoring for the second consecutive night, as Kendel Jurista beat Cougars goaltender Kendall Kilgour 11 minutes into the first period to give the Ooks the 1-0 edge.

The Ooks would continue to build on their lead, as Cali Groenheyde would find the twine as she extended the NAIT lead to 2-0 halfway through the second period.
The Cougars would make some noise however, as minutes after the Groenheyde goal, Chrissy Hodgson would put the Cougars back in range with her first goal of the playoffs to make the score 2-1 Ooks.

The Cougars would never get closer than one goal, as the Ooks would fire home two third period markers to give them a three goal lead and eventually the 4-1 win.

Meghan Witt turned aside 31 of 32 shots faced, as the Ooks put themselves right back in the thick of the series, evening it up a one game apiece.

With the weekend split, the Cougars and Ooks now head into a best of three game series, with the Cougars hosting game three and game five if necessary.

Puck drop for game three of the series is scheduled for Friday, March 19th at Calgary’s Centennial Arena at 7:00 p.m.

Game four will head back to Edmonton, on Saturday, and if need be, game five will be hosted again at Centennial arena on Sunday, March 21st at 7:00 p.m.

Check the Cougars website for more details and best of luck in the remaining games Cougars!