VANCOUVER - Hayley Wickenheiser came back to Vancouver, site of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and the three-time Olympic gold medalist showed why she's considered the greatest female hockey player in the world. Wickenheiser notched two goals and four assists in her Calgary Dinos 8-5 win over the UBC Thunderbirds at Doug Mitchell Arena.
“It's great [to be back in Vancouver]. I love the city and I love playing here,” said Wickenheiser. “The memories of playing here a year ago are great. The rink's a little quieter than it was a year ago, but there's a lot of great memories.”
The Dinos scored six of their eight goals on special teams, including two short-handed goals. One of those goals came when Wickenheiser snagged the puck in the defensive zone and used her incredible speed to break up the ice uncontested, beating UBC goalie
Melinda Choy with a backhander.
“At this level, if you have good specialty teams, that's going to separate you from anyone else,” said Wickenheiser. “They took some undisciplined penalties, and we capitalized and that was the difference.”
UBC head coach Nancy Wilson saw it much the same way.
“Five-on-five we beat them,” observed Wilson. “I was very proud of our team's play. They never gave up. But we need to be more conscientious on our power play, not just to focus on the net, but if Hayley Wickenheiser gets the puck in open ice, she's gone. We've got to keep our feet moving on the blueline, whether it's power play, PK, or five-on-five.”
Veteran blueliner
Kirsten Mihalcheon had a pair of goals for the Blue and Gold, including a beauty in close. Mihalcheon showed confidence with the puck, picking an open side to beat Amanda Tapp, one of the CIS's top goalies.
The game was also one of the roughest and most physical of the T-Birds' season and Wilson liked her team's hard-driving effort.
“We have to be a gritty team,” explained Wilson. “We generate our offence off our forecheck. I like a team that really works hard. The story of our demise tonight was specialty teams. Other than that, we win the hockey game. We hit four posts tonight. But our bench never got down. As soon as we establish our forecheck, our bench gets energized.”
Wickenheiser opened the scoring, racing to the UBC net, making a move to her backhand, and putting one in just 11 seconds into regulation. But UBC answered back when
Tatiana Rafter drained her first shot of the game, a low hard shot to tie things at 1-1 less than two minutes in.
Amanda Asay drove the net and gave the Thunderbirds a lead a few minutes later, but the Dinos responded on a goal from Calaine Inglis. The teams headed into the first intermission tied at two apiece.
“Their first period was pretty good,” said Wickenheiser. “At this point in the season every team has improved, and they're a better team than the first time we saw them, and so are we.”
UBC's
Sarah Casorso gave her side a boost with a late goal, a wrist shot into the top corner. Casorso finished with two points.
Other Calgary goal scorers were Rebecca Niehaus, Elana Lovell, Jenna Smith, and Tanya Morgan.
In spite of the loss, Wilson looks forward to another spirited contest on Saturday.
“We came out tonight the way we came out at the beginning of the year,” said Wilson. “But we've got three lines. We don't have a fourth line, we've got two sick players, and I'm very proud of the level of energy these guys came out with. They were embarrassed last weekend, and they know they're a better team than we've shown. I'm seeing some good things, but Hayley Wickenheiser is the difference in the game.”
The Thunderbirds take on Wickenheiser and the Dinos Saturday with puck drop set for 7:00 p.m.
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