From bad to worse
Cougars women’s hockey team loses 2-1, then 7-1, against the Huskies
Autumn McDowell
Sports Writer
The University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team were back in action last weekend, taking on their provincial foes, the Saskatchewan Huskies, in a Canada West home-and-home series.
Regina sat in fifth place heading into the weekend and was nine points behind the Huskies for second. The Cougars had come out on top in both of the team’s previous two meetings and were looking for another big weekend in order to make a jump in the standings.
Friday’s opening game was a relatively low scoring affair as the Cougars made the highway drive in frosty conditions to take on the Huskies in hostile territory. It didn’t take long for Sasktchewan to get on the board, as they were able to generate offence within the first three minutes of the game when a tripping penalty sent the team to the power play. Shelby Davey was able to score one on the man advantage while Breanne George netted another goal for the home team with just eight seconds left in the frame. After being outshot 17-13, the Cougars headed into the first intermission down 2-0.
The second period did not see any goals from either team, even though both were sent to the power play three times as the penalties began to pile up. However, both goaltenders stood strong and the Huskies were able to hold their two-point lead going into the final frame.
As the Cougars desperately tried to claw their way back into the game, Gina Campbell was finally able to get the puck past Huskies goaltender Mackenzie Rizos halfway through the third, cutting Saskatchewan’s lead in half on a short-handed goal. Despite their efforts, Regina was unable to generate any more offence and were handed a loss by a final score of 2-1 after being outshot 43-30 on night one.
Saturday presented similar problems to Regina, as they had trouble getting anything past Rizos at the Co-operators Centre. The Cougars quickly found themselves in an eerily similar situation as the night before, heading into the first intermission down 2-0.
The second period did not go well for the Cougars, as the Huskies were able to put another three goals on the board, while Regina was still stuck at zero.
The Cougars were able to steal Rizos’ shutout with four minutes left in the third on a goal from Paige Wheeler, but the Huskies added another two goals in the game. It was in no ways a close contest. As a result, Regina took its second loss of the weekend, this time by an ugly, one-sided score of 7-1.
Regina sits at 5-9-2 in the conference, while the Huskies are sitting pretty at 10-5-1.
The Cougars will have one week off to think about things before they take on the UBC Thunderbirds at home on January 21-22. Both games are at 7 p.m. at the Co-operators Centre.
