VANCOUVER – Kicking off the final weekend of the Canada West regular season with a 13
th straight win, the UBC Thunderbirds defeated the visiting Calgary Dinos 3-1 in a tightly fought battle at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Trading goals early, the 'Birds (24-2-1) took the lead for good late in the first with
Chanreet Bassi's 12
th of the season standing up as the game winner to clinch first place overall in the conference for the three-time defending champions.
"Against a tough team like that, they battle hard and play a physical game," said UBC head coach
Graham Thomas. "For us it was about playing disciplined and focused on the task at hand."
UBC took all of three minutes and four seconds to break the ice Friday when Bassi fed
Mackenzie Kordic in front of the Dinos net. Kordic fired the puck past Dinos netminder Amelia Awad for her 14
th of the season.
Calgary (8-17-2) responded quickly with a strong offensive zone shift. The Dinos were able to work the puck back to the blueline and a one-time shot from second year defender Caitlyn Perlinger found the net for her third of the season, evening the game 1:33 after the T-Birds' opening goal.
The lone penalty of the first period went to Calgary's leading scorer Brooklyn Anderson. The Dinos successfully killed it, and a quick play up ice allowed Anderson to create a solid scoring chance but
Elise Hugens was able to parry it over the UBC net.
It remained 1-1 until the final two minutes of the period where Bassi was able to tip in a point shot from
Jaylyn Morris to make it 2-1 'Birds. Bassi's second point of the night drew the fifth-year forward within a single point of the UBC program record, held by Tatiana Rafter. Sitting on 115 total, Bassi has one final regular season game to take a run at the all-time mark.
The Thunderbirds would acquire themselves a pair of early power plays in the second period, and were able to extend their lead to 3-1 on a point shot from
Sophia Gaskell as she wired home her third of the season from the left circle with 5:03 gone on the clock.
The Dinos had a good response in the final five minutes of the second period, earning themselves a power play going into the third.
Calgary had three advantages in the final frame along with a tremendous breakaway chance by third-year forward Sydney Mercier, but Hugens again stood tall for UBC, turning aside five Dinos shots on net in the third for her 17th win of the season.
While securing first in the conference and home ice throughout the Canada West playoffs, the 'Birds expect a motivated Calgary squad in Saturday's regular season finale.
"We have to get ourselves as prepared as possible and keep tweaking things going towards playoffs," said Thomas. "We also have to fight for our seniors tomorrow and play with heart, and play extra hard for them."
Prior to puck drop Saturday, UBC will honour their six graduating seniors. Kordic, Bassi,
Sierra LaPlante,
Kasundra Betinol,
Makenzie McCallum and
Kennesha Miswaggon will all appear in their final regular season contest in the blue and gold with puck drop set for 3:00 p.m.
Tickets are available now and the game will be available live on
Canada West TV.
