It's difficult to formulate a lead when the UBC Thunderbirds women's hockey team accomplished so many feats in one fell swoop.
They snapped a 10-game losing streak against an opponent, dating back to October of 2010, which is good.
They tied the program's record for most wins in a single season, which is excellent considering the program has been around since 1997-98 and the season is only 60 per cent complete.
Oh, and they defeated the number-two ranked team in the CIS and the top team in the Canada West. That might be the best accomplishment of all.
Yes, on Saturday night UBC downed the Calgary Dinos 2-1 in Calgary in what marks the high-point of a very successful season thus far.
BOX SCORE
“I said yesterday I thought we deserved a better fate,” said head coach
Graham Thomas. “And we played really well today. We played really well as a team and played a pretty solid, complete game.
“I was really proud of the girls, they battled hard but also played really smart. We're very pumped. We needed that win, it's big in the standings and for the confidence.”
Led by the goaltending of
Danielle Dube (Vancouver, BC), who turned away 27 of Calgary's 28 shots, UBC got the Calgary monkey off of their backs while also putting the conference on notice that their strong start isn't going to slow down in the second half.
UBC held the league's top offense to a single goal and the league's third-best power play to an 0-for-8 mark on the weekend. UBC also managed to beat goaltender Amanda Tapp twice, something few teams can claim.
Nikola Brown-John (Monte Lake, BC) opened the scoring with her second goal of the season and first since making the move from the blue-line to center.
Nicole Saxvik (North Vancouver, BC) scored the second to put the Thunderbirds up 2-0, before Tanya Morgan made it 2-1 later in the second period.
“Late in the game we didn't panic like we've done in the past,” said Thomas. “We stayed really composed.”
Calgary had beaten UBC 4-2 on Friday, while also taking a pair in Vancouver earlier in the year, though UBC did manage a point in that series. The win moves UBC to 8-7-3 and keeps them steady in fourth in the Canada West, while the loss drops Calgary to 14-3-1, though they remain atop the conference.
With the playoff race tight and 12 games still to play, the Thunderbirds can enjoy the victory, but not for too long. The schedule brings Lethbridge and Saskatchewan to UBC the next two weekends, and both teams are trying to catch the Thunderbirds in the standings.
“We've gotta enjoy this but get ready for a few tough weekends ahead at home,” said Thomas.
