VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds staked out an early lead and never looked back, fending off a determined Trinity Western Spartans squad with a 7-2 win Friday night at Father David Bauer Arena.
Makenzie McCallum scored twice and was one of four T-Bird skaters with multiple point nights as the T-Birds (6-0-1) earned a fifth straight win while handing TWU (3-1-1) their first regulation loss of the season.
"We kept in control of the game, made smart decisions, played smart hockey and were able to close it out," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas following the entertaining cross-town battle. "They started pushing back and that team is never going to quit and so they just kept pushing back and they started to take some momentum away from us. We went right back out there and just kept it simple, did our jobs and pushed back harder and got some nice responses which put us back in the driver's seat."
Heading into the second period with a 2-0 lead, the 'Birds went up by three when Olivia Buckley finished on a late breakaway 5:49 into the frame with her first of the season.
The aforementioned pushback from the Spartans occurred shortly after when Brooklyn Anderson snuck one under Elise Hugen's left pad from a sharp angle to get the visitors on the board.
But just 43 seconds later, Chanreet Bassi restored UBC's three-goal lead with her second of the season, popping home a rebound off a Rylind MacKinnon shot.
The Spartans got another one back at the 13:14 mark when Kara Yackel's one-timer found the back of the net.
Once again, however, the T-Birds answered back in relatively quick fashion when McCallum deflected a Mia Thorpe point shot, once again giving UBC a three-goal cushion.
The Spartans' hopes of further closing the gap were dashed just 11 seconds into the third when
Cassidy Rhodes took advantage of a TWU defensive zone turnover and roofed the puck for her first of the season.
McCallum completed her second multi-goal game as a Thunderbird when she wristed the puck high past Karsyn Niven just over four minutes later.
The T-Birds outshot the Spartans 36-13 with Hugens earning her fifth win of the season in goal.
Now at 6-0-1 on the season, UBC remains alone atop the Canada West with a one point gap above Alberta. With a chance to extend their season-long point streak Saturday in Langley, the T-Birds know the back half of the home-and-home will be anything but easy given Friday night's result.
"It's a road game, they're going to come out flying in their own barn and it will be different," said Thomas. "It's all business, we just need to get back focussed."
Puck drop at the Langley Events Centre is set for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be available live on Canada West TV.
