Spartans start hot in Game 1 win over Dinos

Recap by University of Calgary Sports Information

CALGARY – Trinity Western Spartans' defender Ella Boon logged a two-goal game to help push a 5-1 win against the University of Calgary Dinos women's hockey team to open the Canada West postseason from Father David Bauer Arena Friday night.

The victory gives the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three quarterfinal series.

"It's a surreal feeling for sure," said Boon. "I've only had one goal all year, so to come in and get two in playoffs is pretty cool. My family is here too – so that's really cool – but honestly just doing it for the team and doing whatever I can to help out to get a win.

"We had to bus 12 hours yesterday because we couldn't get flights, so it was kind of unexpected how we were going to come out today – just with the long travel day and everything – but I'm really proud of every single girl in the dressing room and how prepared we were and how fast we came out."

The Spartans started the game hot with three goals in a span of four minutes in the middle of the first frame, setting the tone early.

It started with a rocket from the top of the right circle from Boon after a rebound off Dinos' defence at 8:12 in the first period.

The visitors' second goal was scored on the power play. A shot attempt from Kara Yackel from the left point saw a rebound off Dinos goaltender Amelia Awad's pads and right onto the stick of Kyra Anderson. Making no mistake with the wide-open net, Anderson tucked the puck behind Awad to give the Spartans the 2-0 lead.

A scramble in front of the net was where Trinity Western capitalized on their third goal of the evening in less than four minutes. After the initial save from Awad, Michela Nacarato slid the puck in front of the goal, leaving an easy clean-up for Keelyn Pisani to make it 3-0 before a goaltender swap ensued for the home team.

Just three minutes into the second period, the Spartans struck again. A long shot from the blue line was tipped in front by Kailey Ledoux, trickling through goaltender Maisie Cope and past the goal line to extend the lead for the visitors 4-0 before closing out 40 minutes of play.

The first goal for the Dinos came from an errant puck behind Trinity Western's net popping forward before Jess Martens jammed it past the goal line, spoiling Spartans' goaltender Kate Fawcett's chance at a shutout and shortening the lead to 4-1.

The final goal from Boon came with just over a minute remaining in the final frame. An almost identical snipe to the goal that kicked it all off would go to finalize a 5-1 victory and give the Spartans the series lead. 

The two teams will look to rematch Saturday night with a 7 p.m. puck drop for the second game of the best-of-three series. 

"Across the board, I don't think we liked our push after [the first period]," said Dinos head coach Josh Gosling. "I think we got into areas where we could fight and I don't think we liked our push after, but we're going to wash the board of it and we're going to go back to work tomorrow.

"We just need to be ready to go with a little bit of desperation. It's going to be fun."