Finish the season 21-1-2

Behind two point nights from Chrissy Hodgson(2G), Sara Sharp(1G, 1A) and
Emma Lowry(1G, 1A), the Cougars finished their regular season in style, and claimed the playoff’s top seed by a landslide – defeating the Red Deer Queens 6-0.

Sharp opened up the scoring on a great individual effort, picking off a Queens’ pass while on the penalty kill and burying the shorthanded goal at 2:25 of the opening frame.

Lowry got into the action at 12:43 of the same period, finishing off a nice feed from Taralynn Suzuki to make it 2-0.

Ms. Consistent Shyla Stadnicki put her name on the scoresheet at 1:39 of the second period, taking a pass from newly returned Tash Farrier to take a three goal lead.

Farrier recently returned from her home country of Australia, where she played in the women’s Div. III IIHF World Hockey Championships. The Aussies lost to the Netherlands in the finals, but Farrier was named the tournament’s best forward.

Captain Hodgson scored her first of the game on the powerplay midway through the second, and then again with the man advantage at 17:02 of the same period to send the Cougars into the final period with a 5-0 lead.

Hedi Syme added one more for the Cougars early in the third, and the home team coasted the rest of the way to the win.

Leanne Pfilger earned the victory in net, making 28 saves for her third shutout of the season and extending her record to a flawless 7-0.

With the weekend win, the Cougars officially locked up top spot in the conference, 19 points ahead of second place NAIT, and will advance to the ACAC semi-finals versus the Grant MacEwan Griffins.

Though the Griffins only have four wins on the season, they have been the achilles’ heel of the Cougars thus far, registering two ties and handing the Cougars’ their only loss of the season in the past three head-to-head matchups.

Game one of the best of five series will begin on Friday, February 25th at 7:30 p.m. at Flames Community Arenas– while game two will at Grant MacEwan on Saturday, February 26th.