Women's hockey 2-0

The Mount Royal women’s hockey team got scoring from all four lines, had strong goaltending and won both games of their home-and-home series against the NAIT Ooks.

Not a bad start to the season.

The Cougar women opened their 2010-2011 season on Friday night with a 3-0 win behind two goals from Raylene Cutknife and a solid performance from goaltender Leanne Pfliger.

Cutknife put the Cougars on the board around the seven minute mark, taking a Jesslyn Legasse pass and burying it past Ooks goaltender Meghan Witt. Cutknife scored again less than two minutes later, giving the Cougars a 2-0 cushion just ten minutes into the opening frame.

Pfliger was tested throughout the game and looked sharp as the Ooks had several powerplay chances, but were unable to convert, going 0-7 on the night. Pfliger stopped all 31 shots she faced for her first shutout of the season.

Chrissy Hodgson added a goal in the final seconds of the second period, and the Cougars clamped down defensively in the third to seal the victory.

In Saturday’s 2010-11 home opener the Cougars were able to get off to another fast start  scoring twice in the first five minutes of the opening period on goals from Taralynn Suzuki and Chrissy Hodgson as they raced out to a 2-0 lead. Shyla Stadnicki capped off the first period with her first goal of the season as the Cougars scored three goals on eight shots in the opening frame.

The rest of the game would go scoreless for the Cougs’, but they got all the offense they needed early as Kendall Kilgour allowed just one goal in her first game of the season.

The Ooks cut into the lead when Gabrielle Pelland took advantage of a 5-on-3 situation, putting NAIT’s only goal of the weekend past Kilgour to make it 2-1. The Ooks struggled to find the back of the net despite outshooting the Cougars 32-31 on the night and lost the closely contested affair, 3-1.

Chrissy Hodgson now has two goals on the season, tied for the team lead with Raylene Cutknife. Taraylnn Suzuki also had two points over the weekend.

The Cougars roster has a big group of first year athletes, and Head Coach Scott Rivett was glad to see the early first period goals take some of the pressure off his young players.

“I thought in both games we got off to a quick start as we scored 5 of our 6 goals this weekend in the first period and that helped settle some of our first years down a bit,” said Rivett.

“With 11 rookies on our roster it’s going to take us some time, but we like what we saw for the first weekend overall.”

The Cougars’ next game will be on Friday, Oct. 22, when they visit the MacEwan University Griffins. The Cougars will return to Flames Community Arenas the following evening to host the Griffins in the second game of their home-and-home series. The puck drops at 8:45 p.m.