Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - The UBC Thunderbirds women's hockey team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-2 Saturday night in Saskatoon.
Kaitlin Imai (Coquitlam, BC) scored the game winning goal with 2:51 left in the third period of play. With the victory the 'Birds pick up the full four points this weekend and improve to 4-2-2 on the season.
It is the first time in four years UBC has swept a series on the road. The perfect road trip for the team was on the weekend of Oct. 10-11, 2008 in Lethbridge.
Box Score
The 'Birds got off to a tough start, going down 2-0 after 20 minutes of play. The Huskies got goals from Cara Wooster and Julia Flinton on the power play as Saskatchewan outshot UBC 11-7 in the opening frame.
Tatiana Rafter (Winnipeg, MB) got UBC on the board in the second period of play, scoring her sixth goal of the season on the man advantage.
Emily O'Neill (Oakville, ON) scored the equalizer just 14 seconds later. 2-2 is how things stood through two periods of play. UBC dominated the frame, outshooting the Huskies 14-5.
UBC got into serious penalty trouble at the beginning of the third period taking three straight penalites, but fortunately were able to kill them all off. Imai would score the game winner with 2:51 remaining in regulation. It was her sixth goal of the season. Once again the 'Birds were forced to kill off a couple of late penalties to preserve the victory. 3-2 was the final.
Samantha Langford (Pense, SK) earned her first career Canada West victory stopping 30 of 32 shots she faced.
The 'Birds finished the night 1-for-5 on the power play, while Saskatchewan went 1-for-8.
With the loss, the Huskies fall to 1-5-2 on the season..
UBC returns home in preparation for a weekend series with Mount Royal next Friday and Saturday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
