VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (9-2) skated to their seventh consecutive win, handing the Mount Royal Cougars (7-2) just their second loss of the season in a hard-fought battle at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on Friday night. T-Birds Karine Sandilands and Vanessa Scheafer tallied goals in a second-period that saw UBC outshoot the Cougars 9-2, and ultimately swayed the outcome of the 3-1 win.

UBC earned a measure of revenge, as the Cougars won both previous matchups against the T-Birds this season in early October, the pair of losses marked the first time UBC had been swept on home-ice since 2020. Perhaps it was the wake-up call the team needed, the T-Birds have not lost since the home-opening weekend sweep at the hands of the Cougars.

"Definitely a lot of pride and redemption there, of like, Hey, this is our house and this is how we play and you're not going to come in here and have an easy game." T-Birds Head Coach Graham Thomas said, "We made it way too easy on them last time, so many mistakes not enough heart, so it was nice to see that response (tonight)."

Mount Royal got the start they wanted on Friday, as Jerzey Watteyne tallied the game's first goal, potting a rebound past Elise Hugens (16 saves) for her fourth goal of the season. Despite a few Grade A chances, the T-Birds were unable to solve Cougars goalie Kaitlyn Ross (24 saves) in the first period.

It took until 8:38 of the second frame for the T-Birds to tie the game at 1-1. Karine Sandilands took advantage of teammate Mia Baird's work on the fore-check, sniping a top-shelf goal past Ross for her fifth goal of the season. Sandilands now has nine points (5G, 4A), reaching a new career-best total, just 11 games into the season.

"She's been working so hard here, she's been working for her (ice-time), and putting the time in, so to see her getting rewarded this year is pretty special."  Continued Thomas, in reference to the fourth-year player that seems to have found her footing on a line with Chanreet Bassi and Mackenzie Kordic.



T-Birds rookie Vanessa Schaefer extended her team's lead to 2-1, with just under five-minutes remaining in the second-period. The forward from Langley, BC located a loose puck in the offensive zone and fired a blocker-side strike for her third goal of the season, and the eventual game-winner.

Both teams took two penalties each in third-period, but neither team was able to score a powerplay marker. Mount Royal's dominance on the penalty kill (4/4) continued as the Cougars have now killed 45-of-46 penalties taken this season, good for first in the Canada West conference at 97.8%.



Grace Elliott extended her point-streak to 6-games (5G, 6A), potting an empty netter that sealed the game late in the third-period.

From a tenacious fore-check, to blanket defensive-zone coverage, and stellar goaltending, it took a full-team effort for the Thunderbirds to earn the win. However, they face a tough-test in a Mount Royal team that will look to avoid a weekend sweep in Saturday afternoon's grudge match.



"It's going to be a fight, we're both jostling for position (in the standings), they're going to respond." Coach Thomas added, "I think it's just being ready to respond and not being complacent."

Puck-drop between the division rivals is slated for 3:00 p.m. PT. on Saturday at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The game can also be streamed on Canada West TV.