VANCOUVER – A dominant penalty kill and stellar goaltending proved to be the difference as the UBC Thunderbirds shut out the Mount Royal Cougars 2-0 Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
With the win, the 'Birds improved their home record to 7-1 this season. If UBC is able to complete the weekend sweep Saturday, they will tie MRU for first place in the Canada West Conference.
Cranbrook's Rylind MacKinnon continues to be an offensive force as the defender opened scoring Friday night. Taking a pass from Ashley McFadden, MacKinnon snapped a point shot past goaltender Kaitlyn Ross, with teammate Ireland Perrott providing a screen.
"Beautiful shot and great screen, we gotta get traffic in front of her, she's a fantastic goalie so that's how pucks gotta go in. It was well-executed," remarked UBC Head Coach Graham Thomas. The goal was scored just 4 minutes into the game and UBC refused to relinquish momentum for the rest of the contest.
After a scoreless second period, the T-Birds came out firing in the third, scoring just 18 seconds in.
Captain Kenzie Robinson won a battle off an offensive zone faceoff and chipped a puck towards the net with Chanreet Bassi cleaning up the rebound for her team leading 18th point.
UBC's offensive output is notable as they now have eight players who've reached double digits in points this season.
"Go back to the days where we had some really, really, good seasons and won championships, it was the same," Thomas continued. "It's very important that we have secondary scoring and everybody chipping in. It shows we have a lot of players that can score and that makes it hard to defend, it's awesome to see that many players with double digits."
First year goaltender Elise Hugens has been another bright spot for the Thunderbirds this season. The Sherwood Park, Alberta product made 22 saves to secure her Canada West leading fifth shutout. The players in front of her also did their part as they got in shooting lanes, blocking shots at key moments in the game.
In the words of the late, great, Kobe Bryant: "Job's not finished". The back half of the weekend series against Mount Royal takes place Saturday afternoon, which means there won't be much time for UBC to enjoy the big win.
"That's what I talked about to the group, I don't want to be the buzzkill guy, but that's one game. We played well, but we gotta refocus and get ready for tomorrow because this team's going to come out hard, they're a great team and we gotta be ready."
Puck drop is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. PT.
Game highlights
