LETHBRIDGE — UBC Thunderbirds goaltender
Amelia Boughn tied a team record with her ninth career Canada West shutout in a 3-0 win over the host Lethbridge Pronghorns Saturday afternoon at the Nicholas Sheran Ice Centre.
Boughn stopped all 25 pucks sent her way as the T-Birds earn the weekend split, moving to within one point of the second-place Alberta Pandas at 7-3-3-3. The Pronghorns loss has them leaving the rink with a 4-10-0-2 record to close out the 2018 portion of the season.
"We had a great response today and played a solid team game," said UBC head coach
Graham Thomas. "We did a great job creating offence against a very good goalie and a hard working defensive team."
The Thunderbirds would get the game's first quality chance with just over six minutes left in the opening frame. A high-point slap-pass was deflected in front of Lethbridge goaltender Alicia Anderson, up and over her glove-side shoulder. But Anderson would clear the puck with her glove over and behind the net, to turn aside the chance and keep the game scoreless.
Despite her outstanding performance, Anderson would see two pucks end up behind her in a span of less than two minutes, late in the second period. The first goal would come as a crashing
Kenzie Robinson would go hard to the Pronghorns net, and the rebound off of Anderson's pads would find
Ashley McFadden following close behind, and she would roof the puck above Anderson to break the deadlock.
The second goal would come off the stick of
Rylind MacKinnon after receiving a drop-pass from
Hannah Clayton-Carroll on the offensive-zone entry, and she would wire the wrister past Anderson on her glove-side, putting the Thunderbirds ahead by two goals after two periods of play. Shots on goal would remain in the visiting team's favour, 24-9.
The Thunderbirds would continue to press hard in the offensive zone to increase their goal buffer in the third period.
Mathea Fischer would help do just that, as she would strip the puck from the Lethbridge defence behind the net of Anderson and feed Clayton-Carroll in front. Her up-close snipe over the glove of Anderson would put her team up by three.
The remainder of the game would be spent largely in the Lethbridge zone, as the UBC Thunderbirds earned the weekend split. Final shots on goal were 33-25 in favour of UBC.
"We look forward to continuing to build our team over the upcoming break," added Thomas. "It was nice to finish on a positive note."
Now on semester break, Canada West women's hockey action will resume the first weekend of January, with the Pronghorns traveling to Saskatoon to take on the Saskatchewan Huskies. The Thunderbirds will open the second semester at home versus the Mount Royal Cougars.
