VANCOUVER - After an extended road trip the UBC Thunderbirds returned home on Friday to face the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, and in a back and forth affair in front 700 boisterous young fans on school day at Father Bauer Arena, the Huskies pulled out a come from behind 4-3 victory. The win extended the conferences third place Huskies win streak to five consecutive games.

Early in the game on the 'Birds initial power play, some great puck movement allowed Mikayla Ogrodniczuk to fire a shot towards goal that fooled Huskies netminder Jessica Vance and found the back of the net for the opening goal just 5:14 in. Not long after, a great zone entrance by UBC leading scorer Hannah Clayton-Carroll allowed her to get by her defender and let a shot go that beat Vance top corner to give the home side a 2-0 lead at 7:05.

Saskatchewan replied with a power play goal of their own with 3:51 to go in the opening frame, as Bailee Bourassa found herself alone in front and tucked in her 11^th of the season to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes.
 

WHKY | 8 mins into the 1st and @UBCWHKY is up 2-0 over @HuskiesWHKY with the help of a cheering crowd of students here at Father Bauer Arena for Kids Day! #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/kDTPFA7eBM

— UBC Thunderbirds / @UBCTBirds (@ubctbirds) January 24, 2020

 
The fast pace of play continued into the second frame, but this time is was the Huskies that scored the early goal as Sophie Lalor found herself alone in the slot, and promptly deposited her third goal of the season to tie it 2-2. Six minutes later, on the T-Birds third power play of the game, Hannah Koroll's shot towards goal was deflected in front by Clayton-Carroll to record her second of the game. That goal gave UBC the 3-2 lead heading into the final 20 minutes.


 
Like the previous two periods, a goal came early into the third and this time it was Saskatchewan that got it, as a fortunate bounce off a dump in found Kennedy Brown in front and she made no mistake to tie it 3-3. The marker gave the visitors a boost, as with 2:24 to go, a shot from the point by Kayla Kirwan found the back of the net to give the Huskies a late 4-3 lead. UBC would throw everything towards the net and had a couple of late opportunities but were unable to tie it.
 
Post game, Saskatchewan coach Steve Kook spoke about his teams' performance.
 
"We have never been a part of such an environment like that, this was a playoff type game. At this time of year, it's important to get points, especially with Alberta and Calgary playing tonight, and we know UBC are in the same boat."
 
These two teams meet once again Saturday night, this time at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre for a 7 p.m. PT puck drop.