VANCOUVER – White Rock's
Grace Elliott was an offensive force, tallying four-points (2G, 2A), in UBC's 6-2 win over the visiting MacEwan Griffins (1-5-1) at Father David Bauer Arena on Friday night. The UBC Thunderbirds (7-2) seem to be hitting their stride, having won five-straight games heading into the Saturday afternoon grudge match against the Griffins.
"We're executing better, we're playing with more jam, and just starting to kind of create some normalcies of how we play and getting everybody on the same page." T-Birds Head Coach
Graham Thomas said of his team's recent success.
The Friday night matchup started as a tight-checking battle, as it took until 6:09 of the second period for the game's first goal.
Grace Elliott powered her way to the front of the net, tipping a
Kailee Peppler point-shot past Griffins goalie Lindsey Johnson (27 saves) to break the deadlock. Elliott's fifth goal of the season extended her point-streak to four games, and by the sound of the final buzzer her point total had increased to 8 (4G, 4A) on the season to date.
"She has the ability to take over a game and dominate a game, and that's kind of what she did tonight when we needed it." – Coach Thomas said of Elliott's play. The fourth-year forward leads all Canada West skaters with 13 points (6G, 7A), through nine games this season.
Special teams played a huge factor with both teams combining for five powerplay goals in the game. T-Birds forward
Makenzie McCallum and Griffins captain Sydney Olsen (1G) traded powerplay goals as the T-Birds led 2-1 after the second-period.
The Griffins took two penalties to start the third-period, both drawn by fourth-year T-Bird
Annalise Wong.
Grace Elliott tallied her second goal of the game on the ensuing 5-on-3 powerplay. Teammate
Chanreet Bassi (1G) would soon follow with a powerplay goal later in the period, extending the T-Birds lead to 4-1. Third-year T-Bird Jacqueline Fleming (2A) earned assists on both goals.
The T-Birds wrestled away momentum for long stretches of the game, but would leave the door open for a MacEwan comeback with untimely penalties.
"We're the most penalized team in the league right now, we've got to call a spade a spade, and take some responsibility for that." Coach Thomas said of UBC's penalty woes. The Griffins finished 2/5 on the advantage, while UBC went 3/5 on their powerplays.
Tess Collier cut UBC's lead down to 4-2 sniping a low-blocker powerplay goal past
Elise Hugens (14 saves), for her first goal of the season. However, the T-Birds would stave off a Griffins comeback with two late goals: a Mia Baird empty netter, followed by
Ashton Thorpe's goal with just 16-seconds left.
A tough test awaits the T-Birds next weekend as they host the division rival Mount Royal Cougars (7-1). However, the team's focus is on the present with a grudge match versus MacEwan on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. PT. at Father David Bauer Arena, and it can be seen on Canada West TV.
"One game at a time, one period of time, one shift at a time. That's our mentality." Coach Thomas continued "We're getting excited for Mount Royal, but we're not even thinking that yet. We're thinking about the rematch (vs. MacEwan) and that's got to be our focus."
