Justin Mackenzie; Dinos Communications

CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the Canada West season, defeating the No. 2 Alberta Pandas 2-1 on Friday night at the Father David Bauer Arena.

After coming up on the wrong ends of tight scores all season long, the Dinos finally had one go their way as they improved to 2-9-2-0 on the season. Alberta sees their record drop to 10-3-0-0 as the Manitoba Bisons tie them for first in the conference.

"That is exactly what we needed from our team tonight," said Dinos Head Coach Danielle Goyette. "It was a full team effort where all 20 of our players were ready to go."

An early Dinos penalty saw the opening goal from the Pandas second-ranked power play as Hannah Olenyk batted a puck out of mid-air off a rebound past a sprawling Kelsey Roberts.

The Pandas continued their early dominance as they registered eight shots through the first four minutes of play.

The game would settle down for the remaining 10 minutes of the opening frame, leaving the score at 1-0 going into the break.

The Dinos showed life to start the second period, but the score remained 1-0 Pandas as an early chance from Brooke Dennett was blocked by the Pandas' defence.

The Dinos got the break they were looking for seven minutes into the second period as two Pandas went to the penalty box 20 seconds apart. Calgary broke through with both players in the sin bin as Holly Reuther set up in front and scored her first of the season.

Alberta went back to the power play late in the middle frame, but the Dinos were able to keep them off the scoreboard. Roberts made three solid saves on the penalty kill to keep up her impressive outing.

The Canada West-leading Pandas outshot the Dinos 11-3 in the third period, but the only shot that mattered came off a Calgary stick with six minutes to play. Delaney Frey found space in the Pandas zone and sniped one home past Dayna Owen to give the Dinos a 2-1 lead.

Despite a strong push from the Pandas with the net vacant, the Dinos were able to hold on to complete the upset.

These two teams will meet once again tomorrow to wrap up the weekend set in Edmonton. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.

Photo by David Moll