CALGARY - The Mount Royal University women's hockey team opened their season with a fierce game against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, hosted at the Flames community area. The Huskies stole the night with a 1-0 win after a hard fought battle. 

Just six minutes into the game, the Huskies' Sophie Lalor danced past the home team's defenses, passing to Abby Shirley. She swept the puck into the net, swiftly maneuvering past Cougars goalie Zoe de Beauville. 

Mount Royal showed a bit of push back following the goal, earning themselves a roughing penalty shortly after. They managed to regain their footing for the rest of the period and make some serious plays on the visitors. 

The second period opened with a tough battle in both ends. The Huskies were fighting back hard, finding themselves at a disadvantage after a penalty of their own. The period ended in a stalemate, neither side giving up an inch of ice. 

Mount Royal was making every effort to find a goal in the third period. However they just couldn't keep the puck out of their zone thanks to the Huskies' sneaky passes. A few good breakaways broke the trend but the Huskies goalie Jessica Vance wasn't letting anything slide by. 

Cougars left winger Tianna Ko tried to make some swift moves into the Huskies zone, passing to Daria O'Neill. She fired a shot on net, but was thwarted by the angle, instead finding the post before Vance jumped on the puck. 

The Cougars fought for a couple more shots on net but were unable to get past Vance and her defenders. The Huskies earned their own penalty for tripping and the Cougars responded with a fierce power play, trying for even just a tie. 

Mount Royal took a time out with just 30 seconds left in the game, regrouping for a final attack. They made a full force press on Vance in the final seconds but just couldn't make it work. Vance ended the night having made 22 saves. 

The two teams play again on the same ice on Saturday, October 5th, broadcasted live on CanadaWest.tv, presented by Co-op.