EDMONTON - Sophomore Panda
Grace Glover stopped all 18 Cougars shots she faced, leading Alberta to a 1-0 win over Mount Royal in Game 2 of their CW Semifinal series.
With the Pandas winning Game 2 on Saturday night, it means that for the third year in a row, Alberta and Mount Royal will need a Game 3 to determine a semifinal winner, with MRU winning Game 3 in 2023, and the Pandas earning the series win in 2024.
Natalie Kieser scored the lone goal of Game 2 midway through the first period, her second goal of the series. Alberta controlling the pace of play for the first 40 minutes, the Pandas needed a handful of key stops from Glover in the third to hold on to the win.
"We got the first goal tonight, and in playoff hockey that tends to golden, if you can get the first goal. Yesterday I wasn't happy with our play, wasn't happy with our passing, felt like we chased them a bit. Tonight we carried the play a bit more," said Pandas head coach Howie Draper. "For us to be successful, we need to box them out, and I think we are doing a good job of that. And Grace is doing a good job at making the first saves.
Kaitlyn Ross was easily the Cougars first star of the first two periods, stopping all but one of the 17 Pandas shots. Unlike Game 1, the Pandas came out flying to start Game 2, including out-shooting the Cougars 8-0 early in the first.
"I didn't think we had a lot of pace early on in the game. Credit to them, they responded. They played hard and were very detailed," said Cougars head coach Scott Rivett. "I didn't think we matched their urgency to start the game. We found our way through it a bit, but it was a little too late."
The lone goal of Game 2 came midway through the first, as Kieser took advantage of a miss-played puck from the Cougars defence, before beating Ross on a partial breakaway. Ross made eight saves in the first to keep the game within one.
The Pandas continued to push for a second goal, but were unable to beat Ross despite a handful of shots from in tight on the Cougars net. Glover stopped all four MRU shots she faced in the frame.
MRU found their legs in the third, starting to control offensive possession. However chances they did have were stopped by Glover, or cleared by the Pandas defence. The best look came with four minutes left, but Glover was able to stop Abigail Borbandy on the doorstep.
Game 3 is set for 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night at Clare Drake Arena.
