Anthony Simone, Cougar Athletics
CALGARY – The weekend was kick-started by an inspired matchup between the 0-3-1-0 Mount Royal Cougars and the 0-2-2-0 Lethbridge Pronghorns Friday night at Flames Community Arenas.
The Pronghorns were able to come away with an impressive 4-1 road victory over the Cougars, despite being outshot 33-14.
Both teams came out aggressively, looking to record their first regulation win of the season.
MRU took to the power play in the opening minute, peppering Pronghorn netminder Alicia Anderson from every angle. Anderson, who posts a Canada West best .963 save percent average, stood strong turning away all 5 power play shots.
The Pronghorns got on the board quickly after as third-year forward Tricia Van Vaerenbergh tapped in the juicy rebound off Jodi Gentile's blue line slap shot.
Mid-way through the period, Lethbridge's bench erupted after it seemed the Pronghorn had scored a second goal, but the referee quickly waved off Jodi Gentile's shot, as the puck didn't cross the line, keeping the score at 1-0.
The rest of the period was controlled by the Cougars, who outshot Lethbridge 14-4 and went on the power 3 times but were unable to put one past Anderson, going into the first intermission down by 1.
Emily Severson replaced Zoe DeBeauville in net for MRU to start the second period and was tested early and often.
Lethbridge came out on fire in the second, scoring within the first minute of the period as Katelyn Breitkreuz slid the puck past Severson in a mad scramble in front of the net.
While the Cougars continued to apply pressure throughout the first half of the period, they were unable to find the back of the net.
Anderson was once again impressive turning away all 11 shots she faced.
MRU started to unravel late, as Alli Borrow tipped in her second goal of the season off Jodi Gentile's blast from the blue line at 15:48.
Moments later the Pronghorns tipped another goal past Severson when Delaney Duchek deflected Eryn Johanson's red line slap shot to give Lethbridge a commanding 4-0 lead going into the final frame.
Jodi Gentile added to her productive night by picking up her third assist of the game on the play.
The third period saw chippy play from both sides as the majority of the period was spent on the power play.
MRU finally got on the board midway through the period on the power play, as third-year forward Kate Hufnagel scored her first goal of the season off the rebound from Tatum Amy's hard wrist shot.
The Cougars battled hard all period but the 4-goal deficit proved to be insurmountable.
The Pronghorns grinded out the rest of the period picking up their first regulation victory of the season 4-1.
Alicia Anderson was impressive for the Pronghorns turning away 32 of 33 shots, while Jodi Gentile earned first star honours contributing on 3 of the teams 4 goals.
"It feels good to finally get a win in regulation." Said Gentile.
"We did a really good job of putting pucks on net and our forwards did a good job of tipping them in. Now it's important for us to go into tomorrow and come out of the weekend with 6 points."
The Cougars and Pronghorns play the second game of their home and home series in Lethbridge tomorrow at 7 p.m. MT and can be streamed live at Canadawest.tv.
