Cougars down Dinos in Shootout

Recap by MRU Cougars Sports Information. 

CALGARY, AB – Paint the town blue.

The Mount Royal University Cougars men's hockey team defeated the University of Calgary Dinos 3-2 in a shootout in the 2024 Crowchild Classic at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

It didn't take long for the Dinos to light the lamp. Just 22 seconds into the game, Jake Gricius entered the MRU zone, firing a wrist shot past Cougars goalie Shane Farkas. 

Gricius' goal ignited the Dinos' side of the Saddledome stands and gave Calgary an early swing of momentum. 

Mount Royal took a penalty just over a minute later but were able to successfully kill it off. 

Midway through the period, the game stabilized as Farkas made a few sturdy saves to regain his confidence.

"For a while the shots were a little lopsided. I just tried to stay dialed and engaged," said Farkas.

Dinos forwards Jake Poole and Jadon Joseph each took penalties in the first and the Cougars hammered on the pressure but were stoned by reigning Canada West Goaltender of the Year Carl Tetachuk. 

After 20 minutes of play, Calgary held the 1-0 advantage. For the first time in five games, MRU was held scoreless in the first period.

The Cougars were shut down on an early powerplay in the second but later in the period they finally solved Carl Tetachuk. After an offensive zone draw, Connor Bouchard skated the puck behind the net, turned tightly to find Jaden Senkoe wide open. With Tetachuk fooled, Senkoe one timed a shot into the open net to even the score at one. 

Bouchard's assist extended his point streak to 20, tied Riley Sawchuk for the MRU record (49) for single-season points and gave Bouchard sole possession of the Cougars' single season assist record (29).

Play got a little bit chippy late in the first with a wrestling match between Robbie Fromm-Delorme and Jake Gricius; however, no penalties were handed out. Unfortunately for the Cougars, they went down a man after Michael Ladyman went to the box for a tripping call.

On the powerplay, the Dinos restored their lead. Shane Farkas was unable to corral Noah King's point shot and Calgary's leading scorer Colson Gengenbach tuck home the rebound, firing up the Dinos supporters. 

Calgary held a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.

After successfully killing off a delay of game penalty, Mount Royal scored with under 10 minutes to play to tie things up once again. Cougars centreman Spencer Moe avoided a check from found Blake Stevenson in front. Steveson shot it quickly to barely squeak the puck through Carl Tetachuk and across the line.

Stevenson's goal would ultimately send the game to three-on-three overtime. 

In the five minute extra period, the Cougars would dominate the possession game but could not get one past Tetachuk. Calgary had a glorious opportunity to end it late, but Shane Farkas remained steady. 

65 minutes wouldn't provide a result. A shootout would be needed to find a winner.

Connor Bouchard started it off with a filthy deke to beat Tetachuk. Following a backhand miss from Jake Gricius. MRU captain Connor Blake scored on the backhand to go up 2-0 in the shootout. 

Shane Farkas sealed the win with a pad save, sending Cougars Nation into a frenzy in the Saddledome stands.

"It's such a unique environment," said Cougars head coach Bert Gilling. "We had to just stick with it. Take a look around, enjoy it, take a breath and get back to it to execution. This group has been great at that."

The victory for Mount Royal marks their 10th in a row and improves their record to 18-5-0.

The cross town rivals rematch on Friday at Father David Bauer. Catch the game live on Canada West TV.