The University of British Columbia Athletics

The UBC Thunderbirds women's hockey team wraps up play prior to the Christmas break with a final weekend series against the Lethbridge Pronghorns. Having already played every team in the conference twice, this weekend begins the second rotation through the league. Puck drop is 7:00 pm both Friday and Saturday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
 
In their last confrontation, back on the opening weekend of the season, the two teams split the two-game series with one win apiece, but over the past month UBC improved to a 10-3-1 record, having blazed an eight-game winning streak through November. That streak met its end last Saturday when Manitoba nabbed a 3-2 win over the 'Birds.
 
Since the last meeting between these two teams, T-Birds Tatiana Rafter and Sarah Casorso have climbed the ladder in points, with Rafter sitting at 1^st and Casorso at 3^rd conference-wide. The duo has recorded 19 and 16 points, respectively. Rafter also leads the conference in goals with 10.
 
Lethbridge currently sits in seventh place in the Canada West standings with a record of 5-7-2, but come in having won two straight games over Mount Royal. The Pronghorns biggest offensive threats are Sadie Lenstra and Kirsten Reeves, who both have 9 points.
 
The 'Birds are equipped with the most successful powerplay unit in the conference currently with 13 goals and zero short-handed goals against. The Pronghorns rank fifth with five powerplay goals.
 
To boot, UBC is tied for first with the University of Regina in penalty killing at a 91.9% success rate, while Lethbridge sits in the bottom spot with only an 81.8% success rate.

Having said all that, it is up to the Thunderbirds to keep their heads up and bounce back from its Saturday night loss against Manitoba. As head coach Graham Thomas has always emphasized, a key component to success is resilience.