Lethbridge – The Lethbridge Pronghorns got goals from four different players to drop the visiting Saskatchewan Huskies 4-1 in ‘Horns 2011 home opener.

Freshman Sadie Lenstra, Jenna-Marie Durnin, Courtney Minor and Shelby Ballendine scored for the ‘Horns, while Breanne George replied for the Huskies.

Boxscore

The weekend also marked the ‘Horns Breast Cancer Awareness game and donned pink jerseys this weekend and had a variety of other activities to raise both funds and awareness for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Durnin carried the puck into the slot and, with a spin-a-rama, placed a great pass to Sadie Lestra who was able control it and lift it up and over the glove side of Huskies’ net-minder, Mackenzie Rizos, to open the scoring.

Facing only six shots in the first, ‘Horns goalie Crystal Patterson was solid between the pipes, keeping the Huskies scoreless through one.

Durnin scored one of her own in the opening seconds of the second frame, doubling the ‘Horns lead, with a tip-in from a wide shot from Van Buskirk.

Patterson faced  11 shots in the second, with her best saves coming by denying the Huskies’ Brooke Mutch twice on the doorstop with a pair of sprawling saves.

The end of the period saw the ‘Horns eager to increase their lead, firing successive shots at the net. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts by Van Buskirk from the point, it was Courtney Minor who answered for Lethbridge. By cutting through the middle into the slot, taking a hard pass from Reeves, Minor managed to sneak the puck over line past Rizos for a third straight unanswered goal.

The Huskies came out hard in the third. They won the opening draw and moved quickly to the offensive zone, where Breanne George skilfully out-manoeuvred Patterson to notch their first of the game and drew within a pair of the ‘Horns.

The Pronghorns didn’t let up and continued to play aggressive hockey through the third, creating many great scoring opportunities though unable to capitalize on their power play opportunities. Despite a hard push from the visiting team towards the end of the period, the ‘Horns held their ground as Shelby Ballendine intercepted a Huskies pass in the dying seconds of the game and out-skated the defence to notch an empty net goal.

With this win, the ‘Horns improve to 2-1-0 on the season while the Huskies suffer their first loss of the year and also sit at 2-1-0.

Game two between the Pronghorns and Huskies goes tomorrow night at Nicholas Sheran Arena - Puck drops at 7:00pm. The game will also be broadcast at http://www. canadawest.tv