VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds women's hockey dominated the Mount Royal University Cougars with a 8-0 blowout Saturday afternoon in Calgary. The game was a strong statement from the Thunderbirds, who just last night had to fight to the bitter end to put away the Cougars in double overtime.

With the victory the Thunderbirds pick up three points. Under the new scoring system in women's hockey, a regulation win is worth three points, an overtime/shootout win is worth two points and an overtime/shootout loss is good for a single points.

Tatiana Rafter and rookie Logan Boyd led the way with four points each for UBC. Rafter scored three goals and chipped in with an assist, while Boyd scored a pair and had two assists.

The T-birds were in control from the early minutes of the game.  Fifth-year veteran Rafter capitalized on a power play at 5:43 for her third goal of the season. At 8:48, Rafter scored again to put the T-birds up to 2-0. Rafter wasn't finished yet: shorthanded, with 1:13 left to go in the first period, Rafter stole the puck from Cougars goalie Jess Ross and flipped the puck into the back of the net to complete the natural hat-trick, giving her six goals on the season.

UBC continued to roll in the second period, Boyd scored her first career CIS goal, then captain Sarah Casorso extended her goal scoring streak to four games, scoring her fourth of the season and improve the Thunderbirds lead to 5-0 through 40 minutes.

Not satisfied with a 5-0 lead, the Thunderbirds took it even further in the final period, scoring three more goals. Melissa Goodwin, Hannah Heisler, and Boyd with her second of the game rounded out the scoring for UBC, making it an 8-0 final.

"It was a much better team effort today," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas. "Today all the girls showed up to play. We learned from yesterday and we will continue to build. It was great to see a lot of players contributing to the success tonight. We need to play this way every game."

Samantha Langford made her third straight start in net for UBC making 18 saves to earn her second shutout of the season. Shots on goal emphasized UBC's control of the game: They outshot the Cougars 41-18.

"Samantha Langford is playing very solid in net and is giving us a chance to win which is what we expect from all our goalies," said Thomas.

Rafter's four points vault her to the top of the Canada West scoring race with five goals and three assists for eight points.

With this decisive win under their belts, the Thunderbirds, now 3-0-1 on the year, will be back in Alberta next weekend for a double header against the University of Lethbridge (0-4-0).