University of Regina Sports Information
REGINA - The University of Regina women's hockey team took a 4-2 victory over Mount Royal University for their first home win of the 2017-18 Canada West season on Friday night.
Jaycee Magwood scored twice for the Cougars while Sarah Hornoi and Bailey Braden also found the net in the win. Tatum Amy and Anna Purschke replied for visiting Mount Royal.
The Cougars, who improve to 2-1-0-0, opened the scoring at the 13:25 mark of the first period on Magwood's second of the season. The puck was cycled deep into the MRU zone as the Cougars went for a change but Merissa Zerr was the first one there. Her pass in front found Mackenzie Hutchinson who fed Magwood and her slap shot beat a screened Zoe De Beauville up high.
The Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 lead with second period goals from Hornoi and Braden. Hornoi's first goal at the U SPORTS level was a nice deflection in front, and Braden's marker came off a shot from the side of the net while De Beauville was occupied with a Regina player in her crease.
Momentum took a turn later in the second as MRU saw rookie forward Amy stuff home a wrap around past the pad of Jane Kish. Amy continued to impress following a Cougar powerplay, weaving the length of the ice before sliding a nice feed over to Purschke who converted to make it a 3-2 game heading into the second intermission.
The third period provided tense action on both ends of the ice. MRU seemed to have momentum but there was end-to-end play that required both goaltenders to be on their toes. De Beauville made a couple of great saves, but Magwood eventually broke through with a wrist shot at the 17:06 mark that snuck through the MRU goaltender and gave the Cougars some breathing room.
Jensen Smigelsky and Ireland South both collected two assists for the Cougars while Mackenzie Hutchinson also earned her first point in Cougar green and gold.
Kish (pictured) made 33 saves for her second win in as many starts, while De Beauville stopped 19 shots for MRU.
The two teams will square off again on Saturday afternoon, with puck drop set for 3 p.m. at The Co-operators Centre.