U of R Sports Information
REGINA - Jaycee Magwood had two goals and an assist as the University of Regina women's hockey team survived a late push from the Lethbridge Pronghorns to take a 3-2 win at The Co-operators Centre on Saturday afternoon.
Along with Magwood's three-point game, Emma Waldenberger had a goal and Tamara McVannel collected two assists. Alli Borrow and Kyra Greig had goals in the third period for Lethbridge.
Jane Kish got the win in goal, making 18 saves as the Cougars improve to 7-7-1-3. Alicia Anderson stopped 23 shots at the other end of the rink.
Regina opened the scoring with 3:27 left in the first period thanks to Magwood's fourth goal of the season. The goal came on the powerplay, just seconds after the Cougars had killed off an Elise Endicott bodychecking penalty. Magwood took a feed near the red line to the right of Anderson and beat the fourth-year netminder to the short side from a terrible angle.
Lethbridge's best chance of the first period came with 15 seconds left in the frame, as Borrow was sent in alone on a breakaway. Borrow deked and tried to slip it between the pads of Kish, who got just enough of it to keep it out of the net and preserve the Cougar lead headed into the break.
Regina dominated the time of possession in the second period, aided by four Pronghorns penalties. The Cougars outshot Lethbridge 13-3 in the frame, and it paid off with a powerplay goal in the latter half of the period.
Magwood fed Lilla Carpenter-Boesch on the left wing before taking a pass back and putting home a backhanded shot. Kish also had an assist on the Magwood's second goal, as she fired a long pass up the wing to the Cougar leading scorer to start the break after a Lethbridge change.
The Cougar lead grew early in the third period, as a shot from the wing off the stick of McVannel went right into traffic. The puck deflected in and the goal was credited to Waldenberger as the Cougar captain scored her seventh of the season. Magwood also earned an assist on the goal for her first three-point game of the season.
Lethbridge scored its first of the afternoon just over two minutes after the Waldenberger goal, as a funny bounce set up a huge slapshot from Jodi Gentile in the slot. Kish made the initial save, but Borrow was in the right spot to knock it into the open cage and break the shutout.
Regina had back-to-back chances to add a bit of breathing room in the third period, but Anderson made two incredible saves to keep the score at 3-1. First Anderson flashed the leather, robbing Jenna Merk from the slot with the glove, then denied Magwood the hat trick by stretching out and holding the goal line while Magwood tried to outwait the Pronghorn goalie.
Lethbridge had a 2-on-1 seconds later that saw Kish make the first save before Emma Coulter made a diving effort to knock the rebound away from the empty net. The Pronghorns had 1:22 of 5-on-3 advantage, and pulled Anderson to make it a 6-on-3 situation. The risk paid off, as Greig took a backdoor feed from Borrow and made no mistake to bring the score to 3-2.
The final 30 seconds produced a chaotic scene in the Cougar end, seeing Kish make a couple of big saves and a timely blocked shot by Ireland South as the Cougars escaped with a 3-2 win.
The Cougars will play a home-and-home series with the Saskatchewan Huskies next weekend, while the Pronghorns (5-11-0-2) will play a home-and-home set of their own against the Calgary Dinos.