Box Score WHKY: MRU (0) at ALB (1)

EDMONTON — In Game 1, it was Kaitlyn Ross earning the shutout, now it was Halle Oswald's turn to counter punch.

With their playoff lives on the line, Oswald made 16 saves for her second-career playoff shutout as the University of Alberta Pandas earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Mount Royal Cougars on Saturday afternoon at Clare Drake Arena to tie their best-of-three Canada West semifinal series at 1-1.

Abby Soyko's power play goal at the 10:44 mark of the first period was her first-career playoff goal, and it stood as the game-winner.

"I liked our battle and compete level. It wasn't pretty, but it very rarely is when you get to the playoffs," said Pandas head coach Howie Draper.

"Today was a battle of two strong defensive teams who were committed to blocking shots and both teams have really good goalies. Neither team gave each other a lot of great scoring chances, and we were fortunate enough to capitalize on one of ours."

The Pandas came out with a lot of energy in the opening period and were gunning to score their first goal of the series after being outshot in Game 1.

With Cougars forward Camryn Amundson in the box for delay of game, the Pandas potent power play went to work, and Soyko let go a blast from the top of the circles that Ross couldn't see through traffic to give Alberta the all-important first goal.

"Penalties certainly hurt us today," said Cougars head coach Scott Rivett, who's team took eight minor penalties in the loss.

"When you're having to defend against the best power play in the conference, it makes our job a whole lot tougher. I thought we did a good job on the penalty kill, but we just gave them far too many opportunities."

It was a textbook playoff win for the Pandas, as they showed a lot of grit and tenacity to tie the series with the Cougars.
In an ultra defensive battle, there was no room for error as both teams made life difficult on each other.

"We knew it was do or die. We had a long talk after yesterday's loss and we weren't ready to let our season go. We knew we had to bring our best effort at both ends of the ice today," said Soyko.

"Tomorrow is going to be the biggest test of our season, and we need to be ready to leave it all out there."

Alberta and Mount Royal will conclude their Canada West semifinal series on Sunday at 2 p.m. MT at Clare Drake Arena.

Player of the game: Emma Bergesen