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Horns’ Women’s Hockey Teams Hit Road In Search of Success

Jan 22, 2016 | 10:11 AM

LETHBRIDGE: After a tough weekend at home, the Pronghorns Women’s Hockey team will head out to Manitoba to take on the Bisons this weekend.

This past weekend at home, the ‘Horns dropped two games to the U of R Cougars, by scores of 1-0 and 4-2.

The Bisons, on the other hand, had a successful weekend, coming away from both games against the Mount Royal Cougars with at least a point. They won the first game, 4-1, and got a single point in a 4-3 shootout loss to cap off the weekend.

This weekend, the 6-11-2-1 ‘Horns and 10-8-0-2 Bisons will do battle on the Bisons’ home turf. The Bisons are 4-4-0 at home, but the ‘Horns are solid on the road, with a 5-4-1 record. The games go on Friday at 7:00pm and Saturday at 1:00pm, and can be seen on www.canadawest.tv.

Special teams will once again be the key to victory this weekend, as the ‘Horns and their Canada West 2nd ranked power play will face off against the Bisons’ top-ranked penalty kill.  On the road, the ‘Horns convert on 24.4% of their extra-man opportunities, good enough to earn the crown for road power plays. The Bisons’ penalty kill boasts a 95.2% success rate on home ice, second only to the Regina Cougars.

Only the Mount Royal Cougars go to the box less than the ‘Horns, who have only 178 PIM to their name this far through the season. The Bisons will have to utilize their aforementioned stellar penalty kill if they keep taking penalties at the rate they have, with 10.6 PIM, or 5 minors, per game.

The Bisons have a +7 goal differential, while the ‘Horns struggle in that category, sporting a -15 spread.

‘Horns Freshman Tricia Van Vaerenbergh looks to build on a good weekend, where she put up two assists and muscled 4 shots on net. She has 5 goals and 3 assists on the season.

Bisons’ import player, Venla Hovi of Tampere, Finland is in her second season with the Bisons, and has 4 goals and 3 assists.

Goalies will be huge in this weekend’s series. Alicia Anderson continues to be solid in net for the ‘Horns, stopping 70 of 75 shots thrown at her last weekend VS the Regina Cougars. Rachel Dyck keeps her Bisons in games, putting up a 1.55 GAA and 0.935 SV%.

Next weekend, the ‘Horns will be back home to host the 2nd place UBC Thunderbirds.