The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds shutout the Mount Royal University Cougars women's hockey team 2-0 on Friday night's tight matchup.
 
Coming into tonight's game, MRU (11-2-1) sat just one point behind the Thunderbirds (11-1-2) in the Canada West standings. Both teams certainly had these weekend games circled on their calendars.
 
It was evident that UBC and MRU were possibly feeling the nerves of how important tonight's game was. The Cougars lacked play driving early in the game and were unable to sustain pressure. The Thunderbirds looked out of sync and couldn't manage effective passes.
 
The sluggish start for both teams didn't offer a high event period and the shot count was 5-4 for Mount Royal and no goals after 20 minutes.
 
The Cougars found momentum in the second with a few concurrent powerplays. Aliya Jomha found Courtney Kollman sneaking in for a backdoor chance but Kollman was robbed by Thunderbirds' netminder Elise Hugens.


 
Hugens and MRU's Kaitlyn Ross have put themselves at the forefront of the midseason goalie of the year conversation. Ross came into the game with a staggering 0.945 save percentage and 1.19 goals against average. However, Elise Hugens was the star tonight. She made 32 saves for her second shutout of the year.
 
Hugens came up big again after she shut the door on Lyndsey Janes' deke in tight on a partial break.
 
The Thunderbirds scored on a shorthanded beauty from Cassidy Rhodes. Rhodes used her incredible speed to split the Cougars' defence and deked it through Kaitlyn Ross.
 
Despite the Cougars turning up the pressure, Hugens stayed steady and kept MRU goalless.
 
UBC added an insurance goal in the third period. Grace Elliott ripped one past Ross to make it 2-0.


 
Cougars Coach Scott Rivett pulled Ross for an extra attacker late in the game but Mount Royal were unable to solve the Thunderbirds and were handed a loss that puts them three points behind UBC for first in Canada West
 
Rivett's squad will look for redemption tomorrow at 3 p.m. again UBC. Tickets are available here or you can watch the game live on Canada West TV.