Huskies goalie Justine Denure performs the splits to stop a Mount Royal forward from scoring.

An unusual last-minute goal by the Mount Royal Cougars lifted them past the Huskies women’s hockey team in the second of two matches on the weekend of Oct. 5 and 6.

That goal, combined with a Cougars win over the Dogs the night before, left the Huskies winless after hosting Mount Royal at Rutherford Rink.

With the score tied 2-2 and less than 60 seconds to play in regulation, the game appeared destined for overtime. The Huskies had control of the puck while a delayed penalty call was awaiting the Cougars once they gained possession of the biscuit.

Huskies goalie Cassidy Hendricks had skated to the team’s bench to gain an extra attacker while the Dogs kept possession. The Huskies shot on the Cougars’ goal bounced off Mount Royal’s Tanika Dawson’s shin pad and trickled down the ice into the Huskies’ open net.

The referees allowed the goal, determining that when the puck bounced off of Dawson’s shin pad it didn’t count as the Cougars possession of the puck because Dawson couldn’t control that the puck bounced into the Huskies net. The Huskies were forced to live with the Cougars’ strange luck.

However, following the game Huskies head coach Steve Kook reviewed Canada’s hockey rule book and found that according to Situation 10 under rule 4.13 (b), which outlines the exact scenario that took place in the game, the goal should not have been allowed.

“It felt like we were playing in the Twilight Zone,” Kook said about the allowed goal.

“The correct call would have been no goal, but our protest was rejected by Canada West.” This meant the team will not be given any extra points in the standings even though the goal should have been disallowed and the Huskies would have been on the power play for the final 28 seconds of a tied game. Instead the Dogs hit the showers and officially lost 3-2.

Ironically, Dawson was also the culprit for the ensuing interference penalty and after allowing the goal the referees did force her to sit in the penalty box after celebrating the winning goal.

The Huskies outshot the Cougars 31-26 in the loss and picked up goals from Shelby Davey and captain Cara Wooster.

Dawson played spoiler to the Huskies in the first game of the weekend as well.

The Dogs were up 3-2 after Wooster sent a wrist shot over Cougars netminder Kendall Kilgour 6:51 into the third period.

The Huskies held the lead until the final minute of the frame.

With nine seconds left on the clock, Dawson scored the tying goal for the Cougars. Her goal sent the match into a 10 minute overtime where Cougars third-year forward Emily Harrison notched the gamewinner after stealing the puck from a Huskie forward inside the neutral zone and sniping it past Dogs goaltender Justine DeNure.

Mount Royal, in their inaugural season in Canada West women’s hockey, completed the sweep to start the season 2-0-0. The Huskies will attempt to improve their 0-1-1 record Oct. 12 and 13 when they host the University of Manitoba Bisons.

—
Photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf