Vancouver, BC -The UBC Thunderbirds women's hockey fought off the last-placed Mount Royal Cougars to earn a 3-2 win on Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
The win marks UBC's third straight victory and improves their season record to 19-5-1, while the Cougars' four-game win streak comes to a halt and puts them in an even tougher position in their fight to earn a playoff spot, as their record slumps to 7-15-3 on the season. The win also marked the Thunderbirds 11th straight victory on home ice, improving to 12-0-1 on the season.
With UBC up 2-1 through two periods, each team exchanged exciting offensive pushes as the puck shifted from end to end throughout the final frame. Finally, with 4:49 remaining Thunderbird captain
Christi Capozzi's point shot was tipped in by Canada West leading scorer
Tatiana Rafter to increase her team's lead 3-1. However, out of sheer desperation, the Cougars with an extra attacker on the ice, cut the lead to one with just 1:05 remaining as Shyla Stadnicki tipped a shot past
Danielle Dube to make it a 3-2 game. However, that would be all the scoring on the night as the 'Birds held on for the one goal victory.
"They played really hard for 60 minutes, they got better as the game went on, and kept pushing no matter what the score was," said UBC head coach
Graham Thomas. "There was a lot of moments in the game when we were playing selfish with the puck and individuals were trying to do too much and overcomplicate things. We have to play a more consistent team game, and put in more consistent effort."
Dictating play right from the opening whistle, UBC took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period when
Tatiana Rafter beat Cougar netminder Jess Ross on a clean breakaway that was set up by a great feed from
Cailey Hay at her own blue line. The first 20 minutes drew to a close with the home team maintaining the majority of possession and leading in shots 8-6.
Just under nine minutes into the second period and a second after a 'Birds power play expired, assistant captain
Stephanie Schaupmeyer put her team up 2-0 on a play choreographed smoothly by
Rebecca Unrau and
Christi Capozzi. However, Mount Royal was quick to respond under a minute later as Tanika Dawson scored their first goal of the night, beating UBC's
Danielle Dube on an odd-man rush.
Despite having a lengthy two-man advantage with five minutes remaining in the second frame, the Cougars couldn't find a way to even the score with the Thunderbirds who stayed in command despite running below full speed. The situation remained 2-1 entering the final intermission.
The final period would be a close one, but ultimately the Thunderbirds came out on top with the 3-2 win.
The 'Birds were 1-for-5 on the powerplay for the evening, while the Cougars had no success, going 0-for-4.
Rafter's two goals now gives her 19 on the season, tops in the Canada West. She also leads the conference in points with 35, eight more than Saskatchewan's Cami Wooster.
Dube clinched the win for the Thunderbirds, stirring aside 21 of 23 shots she faced. For Mt. Royal, Ross suffered the loss and stopped 23 of 26 shots.
These two teams will do battle tomorrow as the Thunderbirds play their final home game of the regular season. Puck drop is at 2:00 pm at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
"For tomorrow, the mindset is playoff mentality," said Thomas. "Mount Royal is going to come after us just as hard."
