LANGLEY, British Columbia –No. 7 ranked Mount Royal proved to be too much for Trinity Western Friday night as the Cougars defeated the Spartans 3-0 in Canada West women's hockey action at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. With the victory, MRU improves to a Canada West leading 13-3-1, while dropping the Spartans to 9-7-1.
 
The Cougars, who outshot the Spartans 30-18, scored once in each of the periods to slowly pull away from the Spartans and earn the win.  TWU's Mabel Maltais (Edmonton) made 27 saves in the loss, while MRU's Kaitlyn Ross (Redcliff, Alta.) made 18 saves to earn the shutout victory.
 
The Cougars 44 scored the first two goals of the night at 18:36 of the first period and 3:37 of the second. With teammate 25 scoring on the power-play at 18:36 of the final period to seal the win for MRU.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Jean LaForest
"They went to nationals last year and they are a very good hockey team. And tonight gave us an opportunity to see exactly where we are at. We have played well against the bottom and midlevel teams, and we played well against UBC who is a top team. But, Mount Royal is another level. They move the puck really well. They have more support. They have more speed overall in their lineup, not to diminish UBC, but there is a reason MRU is at the top in our standings."
 
"We are young and we had too many turnovers, which you can't do against this team. They are a possession team and they move the puck really well. We have to elevate our execution, and make some adjustments. I don't think that we played our best game either, but they are a good hockey team. And we have to find ways to win. We have to win the battles, and we have to drive the puck and get it in a better position for us to score."
 
"The big tell will be how we show up tomorrow. This was night one, and we will see how we are on night two."
 
NOTABLE
• The Spartans, who sit in fifth spot in CW, are now 0-7 lifetime against the Cougars.
• TWU finished 0-1 on the power-play, while MRU finished 1-2.
• The three stars were 1) Courtney Kollman (Calgary) - MRU, 2) Kaitlyn Ross - MRU, 3) McKenzie Mayo (Saskatoon) - TWU.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and the Cougars will match up again tomorrow afternoon at the Langley Events Centre. Game time is set for 1 p.m. PT and can be seen live on CanadaWest.TV.
 
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. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
 
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