Box Score

Kirsten Toth and Jayden Skoye both scored in the first period as the University of Alberta Pandas women's hockey team skated past the Regina Cougars 2-1 on Friday night.

Michala Jeffries made 17 saves between the pipes for the win. Kelly Regnier had the lone goal for the Cougars, while Jennifer Schmidt stopped 28 shots in the loss.

The first period opened with coincidental penalties to the Pandas' Natasha Steblin for bodychecking and Tori Head of the Cougars for interference.just 29 seconds into the game. But it was the Pandas who opened the scoring with just under seven minutes to play in the opening frame. Toth found the back of the net for the first goal of her sophomore year to give her team the early lead. Three minutes later Skoye fired the puck past Schmidt to put the Pandas up by two.

The Cougars finally got on the board in the second. Regnier scored her third goal of the year 4:35 into the frame, with the assist going to Kylee Kupper. The Pandas got a power play opportunity midway through the period when Kylie Gavelin was sent off for tripping, but they couldn't convert.

Neither team managed to scored in the third, despite the Pandas having a pair of chances with the man advantage. The Cougars got a power play of their own with less than five minutes to play but the Pandas hung on for the 2-1 victory.

The Pandas improve to 19-5-3, good for 41 points and second place in the Canada West standings. They trail first-place UBC by just a single point.

The Cougars see their record fall to 11-12-4. With the Saskatchewan Huskies picking up a 2-1 overtime victory over UBC the Cougars' quarterfinal playoff matchup is now set. They will travel to Manitoba next weekend for a best-of-three series against the Bisons.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow night in Edmonton to wrap up their regular-season schedules. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. CST.