10-0 to start the year

The Mount Royal Cougar women’s hockey team entered the weekend as the only undefeated team in the ACAC at 8-0. With that type of record, the Cougars knew they wouldn’t be sneaking up on anyone, and understood that the opposition from here on out will do anything in their power to put a blemish on their perfect record.

The Cougars battled hard this weekend in their home-and-home series with the NAIT Ooks, and narrowly avoided their first loss of the season when they were able to top the Ooks in overtime at NAIT arena on Friday night, escaping town with a 2-1 victory.
The Cougars are the team to beat this season, and on Friday night the Ooks were hoping they’d be the team to do it.

Friday’s game was a low scoring defensive battle that didn’t see its first goal until the 17 minute mark of the first period. The Ooks would draw first blood with forward Justine Cantley beating Cougar netminder Kendall Kilgour late in the opening frame. The Cougars would go scoreless in the first period, a rarity for coach Scott Rivett’s team, who had been accustomed to taking early leads.

The Cougars would draw even five minutes into the second frame, when Chelsey Morrill took a Chrissy Hodgson pass and buried it past Ooks goaltender Meghan Witt.

Both teams would fail to score again in regulation as each team clamped down defensively and the goaltenders stepped up their games. The Cougars failed to convert on any of their seven powerplay opportunities, and the Ooks could do no better, going 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

Going to overtime for only the second time this year, the Cougars again showed the resiliency that has kept them atop the ACAC all season, as rookie Tash Ferrier took a Jesslyn Legasse feed and fired home the game winning goal 2:45 seconds into the extra period, taking the Cougars to 9-0 on the season.

Kendall Kilgour stopped 19 of 20 shots for the win, while Witt stopped 25 of 27 shots in the loss.

The Cougars came out hungry as they returned home on Saturday, and played their most complete game of the season, beating the Ooks 7-2 behind a Tash Ferrier hat trick and three point nights from Chelsey Morril and Sara Sharp.

The Cougars returned to their old ways, striking first on the powerplay with just over 7 minutes remaining in the first period. Taralynn Suzuki notched yet another goal in her impressive 2010-11 campaign, giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead.

The Ooks tied the game with less than three minutes remaining in the first, but the Cougars would quickly regain the lead when Sharp scored just 40 seconds later. Sharp would add two assists on the night.

The Cougars held the Ooks scoreless in the second period, and Tash Ferrier scored her first two goals to help her team to a commanding 4-1 lead heading into the third.
Chelsey Morrill opened up the scoring just five minutes into the third period, and would add a powerplay marker at 8:47 of the final frame.

Ferrier completed the hat trick less than two minutes later, putting the Cougars up 7-1. The Ooks added a late goal, but it was too little too late as the Cougars cruised to the win.

Brooke Nelson, Chrissy Hodgson, and Hedi Syme all had two assists each in the win.
Kendall Kilgour got the start again for the Cougars, and turned away 24 of 26 shots.

The Cougar women will be back on the ice Friday as the visit the MacEwan University Griffins, before hosting the Griffins at Flames Community Arenas on Saturday night. Puck drops Saturday at 8:45 p.m.