VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds skated to their 11th straight victory while securing top-seed in the Canada West for a second consecutive season as they bested the Alberta Pandas by a 3-1 score Saturday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Third year T-Bird
Grace Elliott shined in the victory, potting two goals on an afternoon that saw the home team honour graduating seniors Rylind Mackinnon,
Reese Hiddleston and
Joelle Fiala.
"It's a real special group of seniors and even though they're not all starting and playing big minutes they're all equal contributors to this team and equally valuable," said UBC head coach
Graham Thomas who despite the win didn't see his team play a complete game. "I thought our second (period) was better than yesterday's second, which was a positive. But we got off the script. We (have to) be consistent. If we play 60 minutes of Thunderbird hockey, we can beat anybody in the country."
UBC (22-1-3) scored the game's first goal 12:37 into the contest.
Jacquelyn Fleming caused a turnover on her own side of centre and sped towards the Pandas' goal before feeding a perfect off-the-rush pass to
Cassidy Rhodes who tucked a backhand past Alberta goalie Halle Oswald for her 11th of the season.
Saturday's grudge match closely mirrored Friday night's matchup between the top two teams in the conference. UBC again held a 1-0 lead after the first period but struggled in the second frame. Alberta (19-3-4) killed an early second period penalty and evened the score when Pandas defender Sara Keizeil stepped out of the box and onto a 2-on-0 rush with Izzy Lajoie. Lajoie would finish off the passing play with her eighth goal of the season.
Just under a minute into the third period, Elliott would take the puck into the slot and snipe a top-shelf goal past Oswald to give her team the 2-1 lead. Elliott would later tally her second goal of the game, and 12th of the season, on a power play setup from MacKinnon.
"I saw Grace out front so I figured I'd try to spot the puck to her and hope for the best and it worked out well," said MacKinnon after playing her final regular season home game for UBC.
The power play marker was much-needed as the T-Birds' special teams struggled to convert against the top-ranked Alberta penalty kill. UBC went an uncharacteristic 1-for-10 on the advantage throughout the weekend series.
With the win, UBC locks up the top seed in the conference, guaranteeing home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
"We're going to take it one weekend at a time," added MacKinnon. "Obviously (a national championship) is in the back of our mind, we've always wanted that, and I think we have a special group in there."
The T-Birds close out their regular season schedule with a weekend series against the defending national champion Mount Royal Cougars (20-6) starting next Friday night in Calgary.
