CALGARY – Coming off a weekend set win Friday night, the Lethbridge Pronghorns were not able to complete the home-and-home sweep of the Mount Royal Cougars, allowing two third period goals and dropping a 2-0 decision at the Flames Community Arena in Calgary.
The story of the night was the play of the pair of goaltenders. Pronghorn stalwart Alicia Anderson, who broke the Canada West record for career saves in last night's win in Lethbridge, turned aside 31 shots in the loss. Her counterpart Kaitlyn Ross stopped all 20 shots to earn the shutout and win.
Through 40 minutes of action, neither team was able to find the back of the net, despite high end chances at both ends of the ice. Mount Royal outshot the Pronghorns 21-13 through two periods, while the Cougars were 0-2 on the power play and Lethbridge failed to score on their only opportunity.
Cougars' forward Kate Hufnagel finally found her mark 2:58 into the final frame. Stepping just inside the Pronghorns end, Hufnagel through the puck at the net and some how eluded Anderson for her second goal of the season.
Despite the Pronghorns best efforts to find the equalizer, Mount Royal extended their lead to two just past the 12-minute mark. Emma Bergesen attempted to beat Anderson with a wrap around, but the puck squirted across the crease to a wide-open Andrea Sanderson, who made no mistake with a wide open cage for her first of the season.
The Pronghorns made a strong effort to close the gap in the last half of the third period but could not beat Ross on this night.
With the loss, the Pronghorns see their record fall to 6-3-0-1, but remain tied for the top spot in the conference with their next opponent, the UBC Thunderbirds. The Pronghorns will welcome the T-Birds to next weekend in a battle for top spot in the conference. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 pm Friday night and 1:00 pm Saturday afternoon.
Mount Royal moves with in one point of the Pronghorns and T-Birds with a record of 6-4-0-0 and will take on the Calgary Dinos next weekend in another home-and-home set.
