QUICKLY
Tessa Stewart and Paige Hubbard both scored while Natalie Williamson stopped 22 saves as the University of Regina's women's hockey team pulled out a big 2-1 road win over East Division rival Manitoba on Friday night in Winnipeg.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars opened the scoring a little past the midway point of the first period. Stewart, a second-year forward, took a pass from Julianne Girardin up the left boards, drove wide around a Manitoba defender, and fired a shot high glove side to notch her third goal of the campaign.
• Stewart's goal stood as the game's only score until well into the third period. Hubbard came in with Shaylee Scraba on a 2-on-2 and had her initial shot stopped. Scraba got to the loose puck and her shot was saved, but Hubbard was able to poke in the rebound to score her team-leading eighth goal of the season and give the Cougars a two-goal advantage.
• Manitoba's Brenna Nicol scored on a rebound with about seven minutes remaining in regulation, but that turned out to be the only goal surrendered by Williamson as the fourth-year netminder registered her sixth win of the season.

NOTES

• The Cougars (10-9-4) pull to within two points of Manitoba for second place in the East Division and the right to host a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series. Another win on Saturday would not only clinch a playoff berth for the Cougars, but also lift them past the Bisons in the division standings.
• Jules Stokes also got an assist on Hubbard's goal. The rookie defender now has seven helpers on the season.
• Williamson now has a 1.39 goals-against average and is second in Canada West with an impressive .947 save percentage this season.

NEXT UP
The two teams will finish off the weekend series with a critical Saturday afternoon game in Winnipeg. Game time is set for 4:00 PM.

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by University of Regina Cougars (@reginacougars)