LETHBRIDGE – With only three weeks of conference action remaining, the Lethbridge Pronghorn women's hockey teams enters a crucial stretch of the season beginning with a home-and-home series with provincial foe, the Mount Royal Cougars.
 
The Pronghorns and Cougars will open the weekend series in Calgary Friday night at the Flames Community Arena with the rematch in Lethbridge Saturday night at Nicholas Sheran Arena. Puck drop for both nights is slated for 7:00 pm and both games will be streamed live on www.canadawest.tv, presented by Co-op.
 
Saturday night's game is also in conjunction with Female Hockey Day in Alberta and will be free admission. In addition two lucky female hockey players will win the opportunity to warm up with the Pronghorns and Cougars and two female youth teams will scrimmage between periods one and two.
 
A look at the teams
 
Stalled in an eight game losing streak, the Pronghorns (6-12-1-3) trail the Cougars by six points for the final playoff spot in Canada West and the two teams split their series earlier in the season with both teams winning on home ice.
 
Last weekend, the Pronghorns dropped a pair of games to the conference leading Alberta Pandas and are still in search of the offensive touch that led to early season success.
 
Kyra Greig leads the Pronghorns in scoring with five goals and nine assists, with Alli Borrow two points behind Greig for the team lead.
 
Senior goaltender Alicia Andersons continues to close in on the Canada West record for career appearances, sitting only three starts behind former Pronghorn Crystal Patterson.
 
Entering this weekend, the Cougars (9-12-1-0) have lost four straight games, including being swept by the Regina Cougars last weekend. Sitting in the final playoff spot, the Cougars have their eyes set on a home playoff date and only trail Regina by three points for fourth place.
 
Offensively, the Cougars are led by Ann Purshke with eight goals and seven assists, but the Cougars success has come from the defensive side of the game, allowing the third fewest goals against with 30 in 22 games.
 
Up Next
 
The Pronghorns head out on the road next weekend, traveling Vancouver to face the UBC Thunderbirds.
 
-30-