VANCOUVER – A late UBC Thunderbirds push wasn't enough as Mount Royal Cougars goaltender Zoe DeBeauville made a blocker save at the buzzer to secure a 1-0 shutout victory Saturday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
DeBeauville made 20 saves and was aided by stifling defensive play in front of her.
"She was good when she needed to be but the bigger challenge was just getting to her," said UBC Head Coach Graham Thomas. "They had a lot of bodies in front of her, blocking a lot of shots and collapsing in on top of her. There were not a lot of seams or opportunities to get grade A chances on her, and when we did she was solid."
The hard-fought match-up felt like playoff hockey; tight-checking and gritty, with neither team willing to give an inch.
Cougars defender Mackenize Butz scored the game's lone goal on a power play late in the first period. The point shot found it's way through traffic in front of UBC's net and squeaked past goaltender Elise Hugens. It was the lone blemish on an otherwise stellar performance for Hugens, stopping 45 of 46 shots faced on the weekend.
Despite not showing up on the scoreboard, first years Annalise Wong and Mia Bierd teamed up with veteran fourth year Jenna Fletcher to cause havoc for Mount Royal's defence.
"They were great, the highlight of the weekend," added Thomas. "Fletcher hasn't played centre in years, but them playing on a line together just seemed to click. Our captain recognized them as the best line of the whole weekend."
After shutting out the Cougars on Friday night, the Thunderbirds were hoping to sweep the weekend series and tie Mount Royal for first place in the standings. Instead, the Cougars now hold a four point cushion over UBC with four games left on their respective schedules.
The top two seeds in the conference benefit from a first round playoff bye, a goal that is well within reach for UBC.
"It starts now, every single weekend is a preview of a playoff series and that's how we want to approach it. When we're anxious, nervous, worried about the outcome or our performance, we're not going be at our best. We need to just go out there and play hockey, compete with our teammates. Have a mindset, a warrior mindset, that's accepting of challenges…it's a mental game at this point."
The T-birds will face the Trinity Western Spartans next Friday and Saturday in Langley before closing out the regular season at home to the Regina Cougars the following weekend.
Game highlights
