Box Score
CALGARY – Building off a strong team win a night before, the Lethbridge Pronghorns completed the weekend sweep of the #6 ranked Mount Royal Cougars on Saturday night in Flames Community Arena in Calgary, the score 4-1 Lethbridge.
Mount Royal held possession for the majority of the first 10:00 of the first period, but Lethbridge saw the period's best chances.
Russell Maxwell flew down the left wing and threw the puck across the middle defenseman Tim Campbell who had joined the rush. Campbell's speed forced Mount Royal defenseman Taylor Green to commit a tripping penalty. Mount Royal did a good job of killing the penalty, with Madison Smiley doing most of the dirty work for the Cougars. Mount Royal goalie Colin Cooper held up his end of the bargain, stopping the only puck shot on net during the Lethbridge power play.
Taylor Green of Mount Royal creeped in from the blue line to pot his second goal of the season courtesy of a beautiful feed from Cougar forward Sebastian Pare, to open the scoring.
Lethbridge came right back as Justin Valentino received a cross ice pass from Clint Filbrandt and made no mistake, squeezing it past Colin Cooper who could not swing post-to-post in time.
The game loosened up after Lethbridge tied it, with a fair share of end-to-end action; much to the crowd's delight here at Flames Community Arenas. Luke Simpson crashed into Lethbridge goalie Garret Hughson 18:44 into the first, giving Lethbridge a power play for the rest of the period as well as some time to start the second. After one the shots favored the Pronghorns 15-14.
Justin Valentino was all over the ice to start the second, with two quality scoring chances in one shift, although failing to capitalize on either. Shortly after, Lethbridge was still on the attack as Clint Filbrandt received a pass from Ryon Moser and let a wrist shot go in what seemed like a harmless play, but Torrin White came in with the perfect deflection, as he tipped it past Colin Cooper going far post and in.
The game took a turn in the second frame, as Lethbridge simply outworked Mount Royal for the majority of the period and capitalized when Ryan Aasman let a wrist shot go from the blue line and forward Torrin White tipped it past Colin Cooper 5:29 in.
Mount Royal had a couple opportunity to tie the game shortly after. First, when Madison Smiley had a borderline breakaway on the penalty kill, but missed high. Second, when defenceman Taylor Green, who has been heavily involved on the Cougar attack all night, had his one-timer snap shot kicked out by Garret Hughson on a nice save to preserve the Pronghorn lead with 5:00 to go in the period.
Just before the end of the period, the Cougar defencemen were caught on a bad line change and the Pronghorns had a 2 on 0 breakaway opportunity. Connor Sanvido decided to keep it himself and let a wrist shot go, barely putting the puck up and over the crossbar.
Lethbridge came out with all the energy to start the third, building off the momentum they build in the second. They found themselves on a power play opportunity 5:39 into the final frame. The 'Horns wasted no time on the power play, scoring just 7 seconds in, on a shot from defenceman Tim Campbell, registering his fourth goal of the season.
Mount Royal earned a power play opportunity after Lethbridge captain Tim Campbell ran into Colin Cooper on a 3 on 1 break for the Pronghorns. The power play didn't work out for the Cougars, as Lethbridge did a solid job on the penalty kill. Campbell, fresh out of the box and heading towards the Lethbridge bench to get a forward on the ice, caught a pass before he reached the bench, and decided to take it the other way as a 2 on 1 opportunity arose for the Pronghorns. Campbell found Mitchell Maxwell across the zone for the easy tap in past a sprawling Colin Cooper. 4-1, Pronghorns.
That iced the game for Lethbridge, as they successfully completed the weekend sweep of the Cougars on Mount Royal home ice.
Lethbridge improves to 5-4-3, while Mount Royal sees their fourth loss of the season making their record 7-5-0.
The 'Horns will return home to host the Alberta Golden Bears next weekend. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm both Friday and Saturday night.
