EDMONTON – The UBC Thunderbirds extended their win streak to six games with a 4-1 win over the MacEwan Griffins in chilly Edmonton Friday night.

After Jesse Jack opened scoring just 4:31 into the opening period, the 'Birds scored four unanswered, two of them from Chanreet Bassi, as UBC remains atop the Canada West, one point ahead of the Alberta Pandas.

"The team played well for the majority of the game," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas. "We need to continue to build on our game, playing consistent and sticking to our process."



Jack's tally – a rebound goal off Jennifer Andrash's shot – was her sixth of the season, which sets a new standard for the most by a Griffin in a Canada West season.

With the result, MacEwan falls to 3-17-1, while UBC improves to 17-1-3 in the Canada West standings.

The Griffins competed hard and played with the Thunderbirds for much of the night, but they didn't get the bounces the visitors did.

UBC's first goal came four minutes after MacEwan's opener when Brianna Sank made a blocker save on Madisyn Wiebe, only to have it bounce off Makenzie McCallum's body in front and past her.



The Thunderbirds' second goal, also in the first period, saw Karine Sandilands' shot deflect off a defender right onto the tape of Leighanna Rizarri, cruising down the right wing. She put it past a sprawling Sank, who had already committed to save the initial shot.

Bassi tipped home Rylind MacKinnon's point shot to make it 3-1 in the second period before the Thunderbirds caught another break. Sank lost her stick late in the third and they hemmed the Griffins in for 90 seconds before Bassi's back-door tap-in from Sierra LaPlante made it 4-1.

Jack missed a golden opportunity to draw the Griffins within one in the second when Makenna Schuttler hit the post from in tight and the rebound came out to her, but her shot was somehow stopped by Elise Hugens, who got an arm up to parry it away.

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Sank made a few beauties herself, especially during a 21 second stretch in the third period when she stopped back-to-back breakaways from Canada West leading scorer Mackenzie Kordic and Rizarri.

The Griffins netminder finished with 28 saves, while Hugens stopped 15 for UBC.

UBC's win officially clinches a Canada West playoff berth still with seven games remaining in the regular season.

The 'Birds and Griffins will meet again Saturday with puck drop scheduled for 2:00 p.m. The game will be streamed live on Canada West TV.