VANCOUVER, BC -- Alexandra Vafina of Russia scored twice and added an assist as the Calgary Dinos survived a McGill onslaught and held on for a 3-2 victory on Day 2 of the UBC East vs West Showcase women's hockey tournament at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, Saturday.

It was the teams' first meeting since the Martlets crushed Calgary 8-2 in the 2015 CIS quarter-final, en route to a second-place finish.

McGill, which held a 30-23 advantage in shots, were stymied numerous times by Calgary netminder Hayley Dowling of Port Alberni, B.C., who stopped 28 pucks to earn the win.

"We spent just about the whole game in there end but their goaltender played well," said McGill head coach Peter Smith. "We counted 90 attempted shots today and created a lot of scoring chances but couldn't finish. That's an area where we need to get better... finding the back of the net."

Vafina, who represented Russia at the past two Winter Olympics, assisted on the opening goal by Cheyann Newman of Quesnel, B.C., at 11:08 of the first period. The 5-foot-5 forward then tallied one of her own with just 51 seconds left in the period. She netted the game-winner on the power-play at 15:13 of the third.

Sophomore Olivia Atkinson of Toronto scored both goals for the Martlets. The 5-foot-6 arts and science student buried a power-play marker at 9:09 of the middle frame to bring McGill within one, assisted by Marie-Philip Lavoie and Zoe Todd. Atkinson tied the game just 1:46 into the third, with helpers from freshman Jade Downie-Landry and defenceman Emilia Cotter.

"Olivia's rookie year was a bit of a learning and growing experience for her, " said Smith of Atkinson, who scored four goals in 20 games overall last season. "She worked real hard in the off-season and put a lot of time and energy into getting better in the gym and on the ice. It's nice to see when somebody works that hard, that it starts to pay off. She's played well and practised well. Things are looking real bright for her."

With veteran goaltender Brittany Smrke still recovering from surgery that kept her out all of last season, rookie Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., made her third consecutive start for the Martlets and registered 20 saves in a losing cause.

McGill was 1-for-3 on the powerplay and killed off three of four shorthanded situations.The Martlets, who dropped to 0-3 in preseason play, will play Mt. Royal College on Sunday afternoon in their final tourney contest.

MARTLET MURMURS: With four members of the team from B.C. -- Zoe Todd of Vancouver, Cassidy Bell of Fort St. John, Olivia Ramos of New Westminster and Nicole Howlett of Delta -- the Martlets have been well received on this trip. They had a team meal in Delta, B.C., about 45 minutes south of the UBC campus, at the home of Nicole Howlett... UBC honoured the family of Zoe Todd in a ceremonial faceoff prior to the game. Her father Bruce Todd played football for McGill in the 1978-1982 era. He went on to a long tenure as a professor at UBC and passed away a couple of years ago, so UBC set up a scholarship in his name.  

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