VANCOUVER – After two uncharacteristic losses on home ice last weekend, the UBC Thunderbirds bounced back with a 4-1 victory against the Trinity Western Spartans (0-4) Saturday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The T-Birds (4-2-1) got key contributions from their top offensive players as
Grace Elliott and
Mackenzie Kordic both tallied goals while
Makenzie McCallum and
Jaylyn Morris recorded multi-point performances.
"We love having home ice advantage. And we love playing on this sheet of ice and being tough to play against at home," said UBC head coach
Graham Thomas. "We (have to) re-establish that."
The T-Birds snatched momentum from the jump, sustaining offensive zone pressure, but did not convert until late in the first frame.
Annalise Wong used her footspeed to draw a penalty on Spartans (0-4) defender Kasey Ditner, and followed it up by tallying an assist on the ensuing power play.
Trinity Western goalie Kate Fawcett turned away two grade 'A' chances on the UBC advantage, but the 'Birds eventually broke through. Elliott took a pass from Wong in the neutral zone before turning a Spartans defender inside out, and sneaking a low-blocker goal past Fawcett, giving her team the 1-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes. The goal was Elliott's second power play marker of the season and she now leads the T-Birds with six points in as many games.
Kordic extended the T-Birds lead at 4:18 of the second period.
Madisyn Wiebe won a battle along the boards and Kordic read the play well, taking Wiebe's pass in the slot and sniping a goal short side to put her team up 2-0.
Puck luck didn't seem to be in the Spartans' favour as a seemingly innocuous
Sierra LaPlante point shot took a T-Birds bounce off of Ditner and onto the stick of UBC rookie
Vanessa Schaefer. Schaefer followed up her Friday game winning goal, and first of her U SPORTS career, with the 3-0 tally on Saturday afternoon.
Fellow rookie T-Bird, goaltender
Mya Lucifora, also posted her first career win in her first U SPORTS start.
"She made all the big saves, all the right saves, and it's too bad I think she deserved a shutout," said Thomas. "But it doesn't matter, a win is a win and I think she did well for her first game and I think she's got a bright future."
The lone Spartans goal was notched by forward Jordyn Matthews on a third period power play. It was a big goal, cutting the T-Birds lead to 3-1, but was also the first goal scored by the Spartans through four games this season.
UBC would end any hope of a Spartans comeback, scoring their fourth goal of the game late in the third period. Fifth-Year
Chanreet Bassi sent a hard pass into the slot and McCallum tipped it perfectly into the top shelf for her first goal of the season.
Despite the strong showing, a lack of discipline could've cost the T-Birds as they took seven penalties in the game. However, the penalty kill did its job, killing off all but one. UBC's power play finished the game 1-for-5.
"We definitely took some undisciplined penalties and that's something that we are addressing with our leadership group. We want to make sure that we're getting back to being a more disciplined team and not taking penalties like that, letting teams potentially back in."
The T-Birds will head to Edmonton next weekend to take on the surging University of Alberta Pandas (5-1). Meanwhile, Trinity Western will host the University of Calgary Dinos (3-2-1) in another divisional showdown.
