Cougar women take a pair from Griffins

The Cougar women are on a mission, and while we are still just eight games into the season, Scott Rivett’s ladies are looking better and better in each outing.

One night after beating a tough MacEwan Griffin team 2-1, the Cougar women’s hockey team sent a notice to the rest of the ACAC with an emphatic 4-2 victory over the Griffins at home on Saturday night. With the win, the Cougar women move into a tie for first place in the conference with the NAIT Ooks.

Riding two point nights from Karlie Martens (2G), Chrissy Hodgson (1G, 1A), Tanika Dawson (2A) and Michelle Ziegler (2A), the Cougars took advantage of their opponents’ high-risk, high-reward style of play to create multiple odd-man rushes that proved to be the difference on this night.

The Griffins rely on their team speed in the open ice to create opportunities, but the Cougars had the gameplan in place to neutralize that speed and took full advantage on turnovers in the neutral zone.

Taralynn Suzuki put the Cougars on the board at 9:26 of the first period as Kat McDonald forced a turnover at the Griffin blueline to send herself and Suzuki in on a 2-on-1. Suzuki, with a defender draped all over her, was able to deflect a perfect pass from McDonald into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 for the home team.

The first period was action packed and whistles were rare as both teams were playing high-paced transition hockey. Cougar goaltender Jessica Ross thwarted a Griffin breakaway at the 14 minute mark, stopping the shot with the shaft of her stick. Michelle Ziegler saved another goal by making a great defensive play on another Griffin breakaway, diving from behind and swatting the puck away. Relentless pressure by the Griffins forced some giveaways from the Cougars, and with just under a minute left in the first, a Cougar shot sailed wide and sent the Griffins on the breakout, where a great passing play on the 2-on-1 beat Ross with a one timer to knot the score at 1-1.

Both teams came out flying in the second and each had their share of chances. The Griffins continually stuffed the Cougar breakout and looked to be on the verge of taking the lead as the home team looked disorganized in their own end. Momentum is a funny thing, however, and at 6:31 Jade Osadchuk was tripped on the breakaway after splitting the Griffins D, prompting the referee to send her to center ice for a penalty shot. Osadchuk was stopped on the penalty shot, but it gave the Cougar offense the spark they needed and at 6:48 Martens took a beautiful feed from Dawson from behind the net and buried the one timer to make it 2-1 Cougars.

The rest of the second period belonged solely to the Cougars, and at 16:21 Hodgson buried a powerplay goal to make it 3-1 Cougs. 37 seconds later the Cougars potted their fourth on another odd man rush as Martens scored her second of the game on another 2-on-1, again taking the feed from Dawson to make it 4-1. The Cougar defence had the Griffin breakout solved by this time, and great two-way games by Rayna Cruickshank, Taylor Mcleod and Michelle Ziegler repeatedly frustrated the speedy Griffin forwards, neutralizing their speed with great positional play and well-timed pinches.

The Cougars went into lockdown mode in the third period and played just like a team should with the lead, minimizing the Griffins’ opportunities while playing stay-at-home hockey. The home team kept the puck deep in the attacking zone and stopped the visitors from mounting any type of meaningful attack. The Griffins began applying some pressure late in the game, and were able to score again with 42 seconds remaining, but it would be too little too late.

The Cougars will meet their cross-town rivals, the SAIT Trojans, next weekend. The two teams have split a pair of games, with the Trojans taking the first meeting 1-0 before falling to the Cougars 5-3 in their second meeting.

The puck drops at the Flames Community Arenas at 4 p.m. on Saturday, November 19.