New Year, Same Result

New year. Same result. The Mount Royal Cougars women’s hockey team kicked off 2011 in familiar fashion, taking two games from the Red Deer College Queens to remain undefeated at 15-0-1.

The Cougars showed no signs of rust after the holiday layoff, and handily beat the Queens 5-0 at Red Deer Arena on Thursday night. They followed that up with a 4-1 victory on home ice Friday night as they enter the final month of ACAC regular season play.

The Cougars set the tone early Thursday with a torrid opening frame. Chelsey Morrill put the Cougars on the board five minutes into the game, and would lead all players with three points on the night (1G, 2A). Tanika Dawson scored her first of two goals on the night just two minutes later off a Taralynn Suzuki (2A) feed and the Cougars were off and running.

They would add two more goals before the period was over, and that was more than enough as they cruised to the 5-0 win.

Megan Price had two points for the Cougars, and Shyla Stadnicki and Sara Sharp each added a goal.

Kendall Kilgour got the start in net for the Cougars and stopped all 18 shots for the shutout. The Cougar goaltending tandem continues to dominate the ACAC, with four shutouts between Kilgour and netminder Leanne Pfliger. Statistically, they sit atop the conference in GAA, and each rank in the top three in save percentage.

The two teams faced off at the Flames Community Arenas on Friday for the rematch, and once again the Cougars were too much for the opposition.

Chelsey Morrill and Megan Price capped off their great weekends as each player logged a goal and an assist. Chrissy Hodgson also added a goal and an assist of her own.

The two teams were knotted at 1-1 midway through the second period when Price put one past Queens’ netminder Grace Gaska to take a 2-1 lead. Gaska played a strong game, stopping 26 of 30 shots, but the Cougars would add two more goals in the third to put the Queens away for good.

Cougar netminder Leanne Pfliger stopped 14 of 15 shots for the win.

The Cougars have next weekend off before beginning a very difficult three-week stretch. They will begin a home-and-home series against the NAIT Ooks on January 21st, one of only two teams to take the Cougars into overtime this season. The Cougars will then play the MacEwan Griffins the following weekend, again facing the team responsible for the only blemish on the Cougars’ record, a 2-2 tie back on Nov. 27th. The Cougars will then meet the SAIT Trojans, who nearly beat the Cougars in early December before falling in overtime.