Box Score CALGARY – Led by Jerzey Watteyne's hat trick and Sydney Benko's three assists, the Mount Royal University Cougars downed the University of Regina Cougars 4-1 to complete the two-game sweep in the Canada West women's hockey quarterfinal.

"We knew it was going to be two hard games and it was," said Watteyne. "We came together as a team and it paid off today."

After being held scoreless in game one, Regina wasted no time to get their first goal of the series in game two.

Just over two minutes had elapsed before Olivia Leggett's point shot sifted through traffic, fooling MRU goalie Kaitlyn Ross. Leggett's goal gave Regina a much-needed boost to kick off a do-or-die game two.

Though they were 750 kilometers from their campus, Regina's supporters showed out, loud and proud, at Flames Community Arena and erupted after Leggett's goal. 

"It's always an adrenaline boost for the players when your parents and families are in the stands," said Regina head coach Brandy West-McMaster. "They've been supportive all year."

West-McMaster described that the parents of each player wrote them a letter of motivation before Saturday's game.

"These players are adults but they're also still kids. It's great to have their parents here," continued West-McMaster.

Natalie Williamson was given the start in net for U of R after Arden Kliewer had a busy night on Friday. Despite Kliewer's impeccable performance in game one, Regina stuck to their usual goaltender split for the quarterfinal.

Williamson was tested just a few minutes after Regina took the lead. Jordyn Hutt was left wide open in the slot but didn't get a clean shot off and was denied by Williamson's left pad.

Halfway through the period, Mount Royal evened the score. While on their first powerplay of the game, Lyvia Butz slid a perfect one-touch pass over to Jerzey Watteyne who wired a wrist shot off the far post and in.

In the second period, MRU took their first lead of the game. Summer Fomradas made a phenomenal move to maneuver around the U of R defence before sliding the puck under Williamson's pads. Fomradas, a second-year blueliner, has emerged as an impactful player on offence this season and now has her first career Canada West playoff goal.

Later in the period, Sydney Benko fed an outstanding centering pass to Jerzey Watteyne to extend the Mount Royal lead to two.

Less than three minutes after the duo made it 3-1, Benko found Watteyne again while on a rush, resulting in another goal. 

Watteyne's three goals marked the first ever Canada West playoff hat trick in program history.

"They were playing with speed and attacking space today," said MRU head coach Scott Rivett. "One of Benko's greatest assets as a player is seeing the ice and the ability to move the puck."

Benko's exceptional playmaking combined with Watteyne's consistent finishing ability solidified a 4-1 win for the Mount Royal Cougars, sending them through to the semifinal.

"I knew I had to bear down and take advantage of any opportunity that I got. I took that chance and it worked out in the end," said Watteyne.

Saturday's result marked the end of the 2024-25 season for the Regina Cougars. Despite the defeat, there is a lot to be proud of for the program.

"[This season] was really important. We set some pretty high expectations for ourselves at the beginning of the year. We dug deep and met our goal of making the playoffs and had a good showing and we're proud of that. We showed that we belong and showed Canada West that we're coming again next year," said West-McMaster.

MRU moves on to the second round and will take on the Alberta Pandas for the third straight year in the Canada West semifinal. Mount Royal possesses a wealth of experience combined with youth. The versatile group is keen to avenge last year's loss to Alberta in their ultimate goal of claiming the conference title and earn a berth to the national championship.

"We have experience in winning and experience in losing. Sometimes that scar tissue can have a positive impact going into a place where we didn't get it done. We're going to be channeling both of those things going into this week," concluded Rivett.

The semifinal series will take place at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, starting next Friday. All the games can be streamed live on Canada West TV – Powered by BioSteel.