Two goals from Chloe Reid helps Spartans sweep Dinos

CALGARY – A two-goal game from Trinity Western forward Chloe Reid helped send the University of Calgary Dinos women's hockey team packing after a 4-2 win by the Spartans to sweep the Canada West Quarterfinal series and advance to the conference semifinals.

"As a group, we have just wanted this so bad," said Reid. "This is only the third time in our program history that we've actually made playoffs and we have quite a big group of graduating girls, so I think losing in the first round the past two times was hard and we knew how hard it was. I think that really drove a lot of us older players to really try to push through and bring the fight and the younger girls bring such a good energy that it really backed up that experience we have." 

In contrast to Friday's game, it took until the 17^th minute in the first period for the visitors to strike on Saturday. Kailey Ledoux made a quick cross-crease pass to Reid who was just waiting to tap it past Dinos goaltender Maisie Cope to start the scoring.

The second period started early with Reid getting her second of the evening at 4:11. An awry puck from behind the Dinos net proved beneficial as the puck bounced between the feet of several players in front of the net. With the puck squirting free right back to Reid all alone directly in front of Cope, she made no mistake beating her blocker side to make it 2-0 for the Spartans.

"It's really exciting," said Reid. "The first one for sure was a big culmination of our line working so well and moving the puck so well, that was not necessarily a me goal as much as it was a full line goal, so I'm really proud of me as well as my teammates. The second one – honestly – the same thing. I was literally just standing there, so credit to the girls that passed it to me."

The third marker for the visitors came on the power play. Kyra Anderson carried the puck from the left-side circle up past the ringette line before entering the centre lane. With a clear view past Dinos' defence, Anderson shot a rocket into the top left corner to light the lamp for Trinity Western yet again, giving them a 3-0 edge after 40 minutes of play.

The home team made their first appearance on the score sheet in the third period at 15:19. Off a face off, the Dinos took quick possession to the left of Spartans goaltender Kate Fawcett. Kyla Mitenko skated the puck along the goal line before passing it net front where Josie McLeod was waiting to send it through Spartans traffic and past Fawcett for the Dinos' first goal of the evening. 

A goalie pull on the home side in efforts to gain some momentum resulted in an empty net goal, courtesy of Spartans' Olivia Leier, before a last-minute effort from Dinos' Bree Kennedy picked up a rebound for their second of the night, but it wasn't enough to overcome the 4-2 victory for the Spartans.

With the win, the Spartans advance to battle the UBC Thunderbirds in the semifinal round Feb. 27 – March 1 in a best-of-three series

"They've had three weeks off," said Reid. "They had their bye – and then their bye from playoffs – so they haven't played in a while, so I think that gives us an edge because we've been consistently playing these last three weeks and we've been playing hard. We're bringing a lot of momentum.

"Obviously, they're a good team and we don't have the best record against them, but I think right now, we have such a want and such a need that these are going to be some of our best played games, regardless of outcome. I think we will bring the energy and I think it's going to be tight games for sure."

With the loss, the Calgary Dinos season comes to a close.

"I'm very proud of this group," said Dinos head coach Josh Gosling. "I'm very proud of their work ethic, very proud of their fight, and very proud of their pride they showed for this program.

"I liked the fight [from today]. We didn't get a lot of bounces, but I think it started with our players that played their last game for the Dinos and they drug us into the fight. I'm proud of that group and what they've accomplished as a Dino."