VANCOUVER – The No. 9 Alberta Pandas needed a shootout but were able to sweep the UBC Thunderbirds with a 2-1 victory on Saturday night in Canada West women's hockey action. The Pandas won Friday night's game against UBC by a score of 4-1.
“I thought we finished strong,” said UBC head coach Jen Rawson. “We finished well in the third period and the overtime but I wish we had a better first period and parts of the second, so I feel good about how it ended but I just wish we played consistently well throughout the game.”
The Pandas' Kayla Lavalle was the only player who scored in the shootout after goals from Alberta's Katie Borbely and UBC's
Amanda Asay (5th, Prince George, BC) in regulation.
Alberta goaltender Kanesa Shwetz stopped UBC's
Nikola Brown-John (2nd, Monte Lake, BC) in the first round before Lavalle stepped up and converted on her opportunity for the Pandas.
Then Shwetz did the rest, stopping the Thunderbirds' Asay and
Tatiana Rafter (2nd, Winnipeg, MB) on the next two shots to record the victory.
But it was a spectacular goal from Asay in the third period that made a shootout necessary.
Trailing 1-0 from a Katie Borbely goal at 16:56 of the first period, Asay took the puck in her own zone, rushed down the right wing and fired a wrist shot from the faceoff circle between Shwetz's legs at 4:02 to tie the game.
It was Asay's first goal of the season.
UBC had a great chance to go ahead minutes after Asay's marker, as a slapshot from
Kaylee Chanakos (4th, Nanaimo, BC) slot rang off the goalpost behind Shwetz.
The Pandas dominated overtime, outshooting UBC 9-1, and that did not include the two goalposts Alberta hit as well.
UBC goaltender
Samantha Langford (1st, Pense, MB), the game's first star, was up to the task, stopping every shot in overtime to keep her team in the game.
She was similarly brilliant in the second period as UBC ran into penalty trouble. Langford was the Thunderbirds' best penalty killer, stopping all 16 Alberta shots in the middle frame, including everything thrown her way on a Pandas' 5-on-3 power play midway through the second period.
“She was fantastic tonight and made some fantastic saves for us and kept us in the game in many instances, especially on Alberta's power play so I am really happy for her and happy for us she had such a great game,” said Rawson of Langford.
Langford made a total of 37 saves in a losing cause, while Shwetz stopped 22 shots for the win, which improves Alberta's record to 4-1-5.
UBC's record is now at 1-5-2. The Thunderbirds will travel to Winnipeg next weekend to play the Manitoba Bisons.
Alberta has a bye next weekend.
