REGINA - The University of Regina's women's hockey team scored the first three goals of the game and cruised to a 3-1 win over the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night in Canada West action at the Sherwood Ice Sports Centre.
Kelsie Graham entered the game with a team-high seven points on the season, but had yet to notch her first goal of the year. That all changed at the five-minute mark of the first period, as the fifth-year forward opened the scoring with Rianne Wight and Jayme-Lee Green collecting assists.
"We're really disappointed with the outcome tonight. We certainly played well enough to win this game but we had a really slow start and let them jump into the lead," said UBC head coach Nancy Wilson.
Kelcie McCutcheon scored her fifth of the season late in the first period, notching a power play goal with helpers from Kendra Finch and Nicole Hollingshead. The Cougars extended their lead to 3-0 early in the second with another power play marker, as Stefanie Banilevic scored her first of the season from Paige Wheeler and Finch.
The score stayed 3-0 until late in the third period, when Regina goalie Lisa Urban had her shutout bid spoiled by a goal from
Rayna Cruickshank. Urban ended up with 24 saves in the win, while UBC's
Melinda Choy allowed three goals on 21 shots and was tagged with the loss.
"We owned the second and third periods but we just could not finish tonight, couldn't find the back of the net. Apart from the lack of finish, we had a very good game with lots of positives and we will try and build on those for tomorrow night," added Wilson.
The win moves Regina (4-5-4) ahead of UBC (5-7-1) for fourth place in the Canada West standings. The Cougars and the Thunderbirds will play again on Saturday night in Regina in the final regular season meeting between the two teams. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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