CALGARY – Trinity Western's women's hockey team's rally from a four-goal deficit fell a little short, as the Spartans lost 5-3 against Mount Royal Saturday afternoon at Flames Community Arena.

The Spartans trailed 4-0 midway through the second period, but put together a strong response, scoring three goals over the final 25 minutes before ultimately coming up shy. 

Kaliey Ledoux (Saskatoon), Olivia Leier (Regina) and Ella Boon (Vanderhoof, B.C.) scored for the Spartans (1-3-0), with Brooklyn Anderson (Shellbrook, Sask.) and Amy Potomak (Aldergrove, B.C.) securing two assists apiece. 

Tatum Amy and Lyndsey Janes each scored twice for MRU (3-0-1), while Ava Metzger added a single. 

TWU's Mabel Maltais (Edmonton) made 21 saves, while Cassie Shokar stopped 15 of the 18 shots she faced for MRU.

AS IT HAPPENED
The Cougars got off to a hot start after TWU got called for a bodychecking penalty. On the powerplay, Amy scored to give MRU an early 1-0 lead. Late in the frame, Amy found twine again. A scramble in front led to her getting it past TWU netminder Maltais.
 
The Cougars outshot TWU 13-5 after twenty minutes
 
In the second, Emma Bergesen had a great shot-pass that was redirected by Metzger and in the net.
 
Shokar was tested more frequently in the second period. She made a couple of huge saves while the Cougars were down two skaters. With Shokar's big save, MRU was able to survive the 5-on-3 penalty kill.
 
Midway through the period, Cougars' forward Janes found herself all alone in front and tucked a backhand shot by Maltais to extend the lead to 4-0.
 
The Spartans got one back after going on their own powerplay. Ledoux redirected one in the low slot past Shokar.
 
TWU went right back to the powerplay after the goal and potted another one to cut the lead to two. TWU showed great puck movement to fool the Cougars' defence and Leier found the back of the net.
 
In the third period, Janes scored her second of the game to regain the three-goal lead.
 
With just under five minutes left to play, Boon got one back for the Spartans.
 
QUOTABLE 
Jean Laforest – TWU Head Coach
"Overall, today was a game that got away from us early and but we got refocused and made a game of it. We learned a lot of lessons and it was a valuable weekend for the team. Our team showed their resilience and showed that they can play with those top teams. Our special teams were quite good and we actually outplayed them on the powerplay and penalty kill all weekend. It's frustrating because we played some good hockey this weekend and didn't come away with any points, but we definitely demonstrated that we can play with these top teams."

NOTABLE 
•    Saturday's game marked the most goals TWU has scored against MRU in their six all-time meetings. 
•    Prior to this weekend, TWU had only scored two goal against MRU in four meetings, getting outscored 20-2 in 2021-22 (including preseason). This weekend, the Spartans scored a combined five goals in two games. 
•    MRU's Amy now leads Canada West in scoring, with four goals and four assists.

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby, as well as women's and men's disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 31 Canada West team championships.

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