Lethbridge – After a tough 2016-17 season, the Lethbridge Pronghorn women's hockey team opens a new season this weekend with a home-and-home series with provincial rival Calgary Dinos.
The Pronghorns will host the Dinos Friday night at Nicolas Sheran Arena, puck drop is slated for 7:00pm and the back half of the home-and-home going in Calgary at Father David Bauer Saturday night at 6:00pm. Both games will be webcast on
http://canadawest.yaretv.com.
"We continue to make strong progress off the ice, building culture and creating a winning environment within our group," said head coach Michelle Janus. "Our main focus this weekend will be to prepare ourselves to play to our standards; focussing on what's controllable and contributing to team successes each shift."
"Calgary will continue to be a tough opponent for us this season, they play a well-structured defensive game and we're going to have to work hard to generate offense."
A season ago, the Pronghorns finished eighth with a 3-21-1-3 record and were the lowest scoring team in Canada West. However, the Pronghorns return 17 players from last season and welcome in a strong recruiting class.
The Pronghorns did graduate Captain Amber Yuha, Jenae Culp, Sarah Spence and Chelsey Kasprick, but replaced the departures with a talented group headlined by a trio of U18 Provincial team players. Forwards Ali Borrow and Ashley McCabe join the team from the BC team, while defender Eryn Johanson played on Team Saskatchewan.
Also joining the team and expected to contribute as freshman are local product Kyra Greig and defender Ashly Nothof. Greig played last season with POE, while Nothof was a member of the Esso Cup Champion St. Albert Slash.
Highlighting the returning players are goaltender Alicia Anderson, newly named Captain Mattie Apperson and last year's leading scorer Tricia Van Vaerenbergh. Anderson lead Canada West in saves last season with 829 and Van Vaerenbergh will look to improve on her 11 points from a season ago.
The Dinos also missed the post-season last year, finishing with a 4-19-1-4 record. Goal scoring was also an issue for the Dinos a season ago, scoring the second fewest goals in the conference with 42 and tied with the Pronghorns for most goals against with 91.
Further hurting their offense this season, last season's top producing Dino Sasha Vafina didn't return, while second leading scorer Heather Berzins graduated. Vafina recorded six goals and seven assists last season and Berzins accounted for 11 points.
The Pronghorns and Dinos faced each other twice during the pre-season with both teams winning once. The Dinos beat the Pronghorns 3-2 in overtime in Lethbridge, while the Pronghorns shutout the Dinos 2-0 in Calgary.
Next weekend, the Pronghorns remain at home, hosting the Saskatchewan Huskies for a pair of games at Nicholas Sheran Arena.
