THIS WEEKEND: Lethbridge at UBC, Fri. & Sat., Jan. 28 & 29, 7:00 p.m., Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre
A LOOK AT THE THUNDERBIRDS
The UBC Thunderbirds return from their trip to Regina with heads held high despite seeing their playoff chances all but slip away after a split. The T-Birds have been riddled with injuries and struggling with adversity for large stretches of the season. Nevertheless, the 'Birds hit the ice ready to compete every night, and have challenged their opponents in spite of the difficulties they've faced.
By the end of the second game against Regina, the 'Birds were down to eight forwards and five defencemen. In spite of the severely shortened bench and having suffered a defeat the night before, the Blue and Gold puffed their chests out and took home a 3-1 win.
That's the type of team this has been all year. Veteran forward
Lisa Bonang remains injured, and now fellow vet and one of the Thunderbirds' most consistent forwards
Alisha Choy is out as well, thanks to shoulder trouble.
Chelsea Laing,
Nikola Brown-John,
Sarah Casorso, and
Haley Voytechek are all likely to miss some more action with various ailments as well.
That leaves a scrappy bunch of players with their hearts on their sleeves to step up and compete. It means blueliners skating as forwards, and everyone learning to adjust to new roles, not to mention plenty of extra shifts.
Fortunately, top scorer
Kaitlin Imai is still skating for the team, and will look to add to her 13 points against Lethbridge.
Tatiana Rafter has been another bright spot for the 'Birds all year. Seeming to improve exponentially, Rafter leads the team with seven goals in her rookie campaign.
Melinda Choy proved once again why she is such a huge part of the team last weekend, when she made 35 stops, allowing just one goal and giving the skaters in front of her a chance to win on Saturday night.
A LOOK AT THE PRONGHORNS
Winless in their last seven games, Lethbridge arrives in Vancouver a hungry team. Both the Pronghorns and T-Birds are playing for pride this weekend and neither squad wants to finish in the basement. This weekend's games should be passionate affairs.
The Pronghorns are led by third year forward Shelby Ballendine, whose team-leading 16 points in 20 games places her among Canada West's top ten scorers. Her ten goals account for nearly one third of Lethbridge's total offensive output on the season, and places her sixth in the conference. Jenna-Marie Durnin is another offensive threat for the Pronghorns, as is blueliner Amy Van Buskirk.
Rookie goaltender Crystal Patterson will likely get the start in both games versus UBC. Her .898 save percentage is impressive considering that her teams has the biggest disparity between total goals for and against. The only goaltender to have faced more shots in Canada West so far is
Melinda Choy, who has played two more games than the Lethbridge netminder.
COACH WILSON ON...
Splitting the series with Regina:
“We're pretty pumped because, as I keep telling everybody, since the Calgary series we've been playing with two lines. We've got nine injuries. The kids are digging deep, and we've got D moving up to play forward, but forget all that. We played solid hockey against Regina. We played them very hard.”
The team's attitude in the face of adversity:
“No one in the dressing room has lost faith in our team. We're a solid group of competitors. Is the season going the way we wanted it to go? Absolutely not. But these things happen. All the players and staff are doing the best we can to move forward and stay positive. I'm not seeing a team that isn't fired up or going out and playing hard. I see a very tired and injured team who are working hard to achieve the results we want.”
Players who standout when times are rough:
“
Kelsey Kirkham has skated very hard. She had the flu going into the weekend against Calgary and played so hard.
Kirsten Mihalcheon on defence has been a real leader for us. She's got some key goals, and she's jumping up into the play, and keeping the dressing room light. She's shown a lot of leadership.
Melinda Choy and our captain
Ashley Henry have also done a great job.”
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