Cougars down Trojans,  lead season series 2-1

The Cougar women kicked off Parents Weekend Saturday evening with a 4-2 comeback win over the SAIT Trojans. With the win, the Cougars extend their winning streak to four games, and will try to make it five as they visit SAIT Arena tomorrow afternoon.

Over 40 Cougar parents were in attendance Saturday to watch their daughters take on their cross-town rivals. The mothers and fathers would not be disappointed as the Cougars overcame a slow start in the opening period to score four unanswered and dismiss any Trojan aspirations of an upset.

Head Coach Scott Rivett attributed the slow start to the extra-curricular activities of the weekend, but was pleased that his girls were able to get back to playing their brand of hockey.

“We just had to get back to our game plan and what we were supposed to be doing to execute,” said Rivett. It was a tough first period. We gave up a couple goals early, one on the powerplay. We have a lot going on this weekend with the parents here and I think we kind of lost focus for a little while.

“The girls regained their composure, but it was a tough game to play with so many powerplays and penalty kills. It was really tough to gain any kind of momentum. The officials put the whistles away in the third period and let us play, and we were able to establish some momentum and get everyone involved.”

The Cougars got goals from three lines in this one, as Kat McDonald, Janessa Jenkins, Mackenzie Duncan and Chrissy Hodgson all found the back of the net.

The Trojans jumped out to a quick start and scored two goals in the game’s first six minutes to quiet the home crowd. The Cougars looked slow out of the gate and didn’t really find their legs until late in the first period, when Kat McDonald cut into the Trojan lead on the powerplay, taking a nice feed from Karlie Martens and beating Trojan netminders Chelsea Lowe.

The first and second periods were marred with penalties, and both teams had trouble staying out of the box. A lot of 5-on-4, 4-on-4, 4-on-3 and 5-on-3 hockey was played in the first two periods, but neither the Trojans nor the Cougars could do much with the man-advantage as the Trojans took a 2-1 lead into the third.

The Cougars heavily outshot the Trojans in this one, but stellar play from Lowe enabled the Trojans to hold on to their slim lead. That would change at 4:37 of the third period as Janessa Jenkins buried the equalizer to make it a 2-2 hockey game.

The eventual game winner was a thing of beauty, and after a Trojan turnover in the neutral zone Kacy Smith raced in with Mackenzie Duncan on a 2-on-1. Smith feathered a highlight reel saucer pass over the outstretched Trojan defender’s stick, and Duncan would make no mistake, finishing the play in style to make it 3-2 Cougars. Captain Chrissy Hodgson made it 4-2 Cougars with just over five minutes remaining after she put home a rebound during a scramble in front of the Trojan goal.

With the win, the Cougars move to 6-3 on the season and will head over to the Trojans’ barn tomorrow afternoon as the two teams finish off their season series. The Cougars lead the series 2-1 and lead the Trojans in the ACAC standings by four points. Puck drops at SAIT Arena tomorrow at 4 p.m.