VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds (10-0-1-0) extended their winning-streak to nine games with a 3-0 win over the Mount Royal Cougars (6-3-0-0) on Friday night at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The T-Birds penalty kill was outstanding, killing all six Mount Royal powerplays, and scoring two short-handed goals.
Hosting the Cougars for the first time since a 1-0 victory in game three of the Canada West final, the T-Birds proved why they are defending Canada West champions. UBC overcame a stifling Mount Royal defence, and stellar goaltending from Cougars fourth-year goalie Kaitlyn Ross (28 saves) in the victory. T-Birds goalie Elise Hugens (14 saves) did her part as well, making timely saves to keep her team in the game, posting her second shutout of the season in the process.
"Mount Royal plays a really structured game and are tough defensively," said UBC Head Coach Graham Thomas. "They also have a great goalie, which makes it tough to find room to capitalize, but we found ways to create offence and not get frustrated."
It took 26 shots before the T-Birds could solve Cougars goalie Kaitlyn Ross. At the 17:33 mark of the second period, a tenacious UBC penalty kill paid dividends as Mackenzie Kordic and Mia Bierd teamed up to create havoc in the offensive zone. Kordic corralled the puck near the face-off circle and snapped a top-shelf goal over Ross's glove to put her team up 1-0.
UBC's top-line extended their team's lead in the third period. Cassidy Rhodes (1G) finished a Mackenzie Kordic (1G, 1A) and Madisyn Wiebe (1A) passing play with a perfectly placed low-blocker snipe, giving the T-Birds a 2-0 lead. Rhodes, the T-Birds standout sophomore, now has goals in five straight games, scoring all six of her goals this season in that span. Meanwhile, fourth-year Mackenzie Kordic leads all Canada West skaters with 19 points (8G, 11A) in 11 games played this season.
The 3-0 goal came just under five minutes later as Annalise Wong put the game out of reach with her first goal of the season. Wong caused a turnover at the Cougars blueline, jetted past the Cougars defence, and tucked her team's second short-handed goal of the game past Ross.
"In a big game we need big plays to be made by big players," reflected Thomas. "Mackenzie Kordic and Annalise Wong work extremely hard and found ways to score big goals."
With the victory, the UBC Thunderbirds have now won 20 consecutive regular season home games dating back to last season, and 21 consecutive games dating back to 2021-2022. However, they face a motivated Mount Royal Cougars team for the second game of the weekend series.
"Every win counts in this league, so let's not look past that or take anything for granted," concluded Thomas. "MRU is going to come at us tomorrow, they're hungry and they're not going to want to leave here without taking points from us; so we gotta match that focus and that intensity and come ready to battle even harder."
The teams square off again at Doug Mitchell Thundebirds Sports Centre at 3:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday. Tickets can be found here. Stream the game on Canada West TV.
