CALGARY- The University of Calgary Dinos lost a nail bitter 3-2, to the No. 3 University of Alberta Pandas in double overtime on Friday evening, Nov. 21 at the Father David Bauer Arena.
A history driven rivalry was driven even deeper in tonight's game. Losing in double overtime despite outshooting Alberta 37-19.
"We wanted to come out and play a full 60 mins, start the game how we usually end our games," explained forward Janelle Parent. "Even though we lost we finished strong and turned it around in the second."
In the opening minutes of the first period it seemed that the Dinos would control the play before heading into some penalty trouble. The Pandas Hannah Olenyk capitalized on the power play. Off the faceoff Olenyk put Deanna Morin's rebound past Hayley Dowling on the glove side.
Alberta netted their second of the evening less than two minutes later. Morgan Kelly fed Allison Campbell a breakout pass that Campbell went end-to-end with before putting the puck just under the crossbar to put the Pandas up 2-0 at the end of the first period.
Calgary struck back in the middle stanza. Iya Gavrilova tipped her 12th goal of the season in on a point shot from Stephanie Zvonkovic. Hayley Wickenheiser picked up an assist on the play.
The Dinos tied the game mid-way through the third period. Wickenheiser gave a high slot pass to Gavrilova who onetimed it high past Lindsey Post The Dinos held the Pandas to only three shots in the third period to push the game into overtime.
One period of overtime wasn't enough as both teams held even and pushed a second period overtime. Alberta would take the win at the 2:33 mark of the second overtime period. Campbell made a drop passed to Natasha steblin who walked in and beat Dowling high blocker side. The double overtime winner was Steblins first of the year.
Calgary now falls to a record of 6-3-4, while Alberta improves to 9-4-0.
"We finished strong, we don't have much time to reflect we have to take it and move forward," said Parent. We have to keep the momentum we ended the game with and start with that tomorrow."
The Dinos will head north tomorrow to face the Pandas again tomorrow evening, Nov. 22nd at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton. Action is set to get underway at 6 p.m.
-UC-