WINNIPEG – The No. 2 nationally ranked UBC Thunderbirds made a statement on Saturday, dropping a program-record 10 goals on the No. 10 ranked Manitoba Bisons.
Mackenzie Kordic and
Chanreet Bassi both scored hat tricks for the T-Birds, the first of both of their UBC careers.
Grace Elliott notched a trifecta of assists, bumping her Canada West-leading points total to 24. Bassi moves up into a tie for second with 15 points on the year.
Overall, 13 different Thunderbirds got on the scoresheet as they got out to a big lead in the first and never looked back from there.
"Manitoba is a tough team," said Thunderbirds head coach
Graham Thomas. "They were all over us in the first five or six minutes of the game and were pushing hard, so for us to come back like that and take momentum back and just fill the net even in the third period was impressive."
Karine Sandilands got the party started eight minutes in with her sixth goal of the season, before Kordic capitalized on a bad Manitoba giveaway later in the period to score shorthanded.
UBC rode the momentum from there, with
Jacquelyn Fleming making it 3-0 in the final minute of the first. Bassi and
Mia Bierd made it 5-0 with goals just 32 seconds apart midway through the second, before the Bisons finally got on the board with one of their own.
That didn't slow down the T-Birds, who came right back with a power play marker from Bassi with just over four minutes to play in the period. That made it 6-1, equaling the highest goal total for the blue and gold to that point this season.
The 'Birds were determined to smash past that mark though, and Kordic did just that with her second of the night before the first 40 minutes were up.
Manitoba got another goal early in the third, and the Thunderbirds were quiet offensively until the final few minutes of the game, when they provided a final onslaught.
First, Sandilands got her second of the night, burying a rebound that came off a nice drive to the net and shot from
Sophia Gaskell. Kordic and Bassi then both finished off their hat tricks, with Bassi making the scoreboard operators turn to double digits off a breakaway goal with just a second left on the clock.
The T-Birds now have 13 wins on the year and lead the West Division with 27 points, while the Bisons have 17 points in Canada West's East Division, remaining in a playoff spot. The 'Birds have now scored 56 goals this season, 15 more than the next highest scoring team.
"For us to know that scoring can come from anywhere makes it hard to defend against," added Thomas. "It's a really good sign, but we can't get complacent and we have to continue to look ahead."
UBC has just two more games to go before the break, in a home-and-home series against Trinity Western. The Thunderbirds will play in Langley on Friday, December 6th, before taking on the Spartans at home on Saturday, December 7th.
