VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds swept their weekend series versus the Regina Cougars with a 2-1 shootout win in the second of back-to-back games at Thunderbird Arena.
Christi Capozzi was the lone skater to score in the five-round shootout. Cougars' goaltender, Lisa Urban, got a piece of Capozzi's wrist shot, but couldn't keep the puck out.
UBC netminder
Melinda Choy came up with a perfect performance, stopping all five Regina shooters.
“Melinda's unbelievable,” said UBC head coach Nancy Wilson. “We can play with a lot of confidence because of her. She's an outstanding goaltender. We're lucky to have her.”
Although the Thunderbirds out shot the Cougars 31-24, Saturday's game was tightly contested at both ends of the rink, a drastic change from the T-Birds' 7-0 victory over Regina the night before.
Rayna Cruickshank scored UBC's lone regulation goal on the power play. Cruickshank skated to the net and fired a wrist shot from inside left faceoff circle, beating Urban stick side.
The pair of wins allows UBC to leapfrog Regina and take sole possession of fourth place in Canada West.
Wilson spoke about the importance of getting wins against the Cougars.
“It was big for us. We had to take four points this weekend. We've gotten stronger over the year and now we're at a place where we have confidence. I think the New Year is going to be big for us.”
The 'Birds have momentum going into the holiday break. They have now won five games in a row after an 0-6 stretch earlier in the year. However, they were in danger of having that streak snapped in the final minutes of Saturday's game.
UBC took three penalties in the final six minutes of regulation time, spending four minutes short-handed, including a minute and a half down two skaters.
“Regina had every opportunity to take the game, but we showed a lot of poise,” commented Wilson. “We didn't collapse under the pressure of the penalty kill. We were able to keep the puck to the outside and get it down the ice.”
The Thunderbirds managed the victory minus three regulars, as
Kaylee Chanakos,
Serina Swanson, and
Kirsten Mihalcheon all sat out due to injury.
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