Dojahn leads Rustlers to shutout over Trojans

The Lakeland College Apex Automation Rustlers and SAIT Trojans began the first game of a tripleheader weekend in Lloydminster with game 1 being played on Friday, February 2nd. The Rustlers looked to continue to climb the standings and close the gap between themselves and the Red Deer Queens and NAIT Ooks. The Trojans were looking to tighten the standings on the 3rd-place Rustlers and 4th-place Trojans. Lakeland would skate to a 2-0 victory in front of their hometown fans this evening.

The first period saw both teams start slow. There were no penalties called on either side but Kaylin Schellenberg for SAIT was called on to make some big saves as the Rustlers held a 10-4 advantage on the shot clock. In the second period, the Rustlers would break the scoreless deadlock as Kaylee Hill pounced on a rebound to beat Schellenberg high to the blocker side. The goal came at the 7:10 mark of period 2 to give the Rustlers a 1-0 lead. Lakeland would outshoot SAIT by a 17-8 advantage and hold a 27-12 differential on the shot clock heading into period three. Both teams would each take a minor penalty but teams would kill off the power play. 

In the third period, Lakeland would score an early goal 0:51 into the third period. Leading goal scorer Hailey Carothers would beat Schellenberg from the slot to increase the lead to 2-0. That was all the goals scored by either team as Mackenzie Dojahn would shut the door for the rest of the third period. The Trojans had several high-leverage shot locations but Dojahn was key to backstopping the Rustlers to victory. Shots in the third period were 9-8 for SAIT and overall, 35-21 for Lakeland in the game. Players of the game were Pyper Alexander for SAIT and Mackenzie Dojahn for Lakeland. Both teams will head back to the Russ for game 2 of the weekend series. Puck drop is 7:00 pm on Saturday, February 3rd.