Lethbridge – Playing in their final weekend of the season and looking to take another step towards the teams’ first playoff in five years, the Lethbridge Pronghorns were upset by the fifth place Regina Cougars 5-0 Friday night.
The ‘Horns entered the weekend with a strangle hold on the fourth and final playoff spot after last weekend’s sweep of the Bisons, taking a five point lead on said Bisons. With the Bisons holding two games in hand the ‘Horns needed three points on the weekend to clinch.
Boxscore
Regina received goals from Hillary Lerat, Kaitlin Sherven, Rianne Wright and Kendra Finch. Jennifer Schmidt earned her second shutout of the season with a 23 save performance.
Crystal Patterson stopped 19 of 23 Cougars shots through two period of play, before giving way to Shauntelle Parsons, who made five saves in only her third appearance of the season.
With the loss the ‘Horns fall to 13-8-2 on the season, while the Cougars improve to 7-13-1.
Regina opened the scoring while on the power play, as Hillary Lerat’s shot squeaked through Patterson’s five-hole just past the midway point of the opening frame.
Less than three minutes later, Sherven was able to corral a loose puck during a goal mouth scramble and double the Cougar lead.
In addition to taking a two goal lead after the opening frame, the Cougars also held the advantage on the shot clock, 14-10.
After nearly 16 minutes of a stalemate, the Cougars were back at it, Rianne Wright broke in alone from the ‘Horns blue line and made no mistake sliding the puck through Patterson’s five-hole.
With time winding down in the second frame, the Cougars made it 4-0 with only 3.4 seconds remaining. Sherven and Kendra Finch broke in on a two-on-one with Sherven sliding the puck across to Finch just above the crease, who lifted a shot up and over Patterson.
On an early third period power play, the Cougars upped their lead to five to round out the scoring. Finch redirected a point shot from Carleen Meszaros past Parsons.
The ‘Horns will conclude the 2011-12 season tomorrow night hosting the Cougars again, puck drops at 7:00pm at Nicholas Sheran Arena. The game can also be viewed at canadawest.tv, the home of all Canada West webcasts.
