This weekend, the women’s hockey team experienced their first win and their first loss of the new year.
After being shut out Friday night 2-0, the UBC Thunderbirds bounced back in a big way, coming out victorious on Saturday afternoon with an overwhelming 6-2 win against the Mount Royal University Cougars.
Saturday, the Cougars opened scoring after Megan Carver shoved the puck in early on in the first period, but the ’Birds bounced back with a rally of shots in the fifth minute. Rebecca Unrau soon found success after the puck got loose in front of the goal and she launched it into the back of the net to bring the score to 1-1.
UBC found their momentum again in the 11th minute of the first period when they came off of the penalty kill. Unrau found herself with the puck after a pass from ’Bird Haneet Parhar, which left the Cougars scrambling. In the confusion, Unrau was able to score her second goal of the afternoon.
The ’Birds were able to extend their lead in the 13th minute as Logan Boyd scored the insurance goal. An initial shot left the Cougar goalie Emma Pincott sprawling, which gave Boyd enough space to slot the puck in and make the score 3-1.
In the second period, the ’Birds had a 4-1 lead at the fifth minute. Parhar scored the fourth goal off of a pass from Melissa Goodwin.
The Cougars almost bounced back a minute later as one of them attempted to break away, but before she could score, Kirsten Toth blocked the shot with her skate.
The ’Birds nearly scored again less than a minute into the last period, but it was soon declared a no-goal. A goal did not come until five minutes in when Cougar Kennedy Bozek managed to send the puck into the back of the Thunderbird net to bring the score to 4-2.
The T-Birds pulled up less than a minute later with another goal. Boyd quickly scored again off of another assist from ’Bird Stefanie Schaupmeyer and Unrau bringing the score to 5-2.
At the 11th minute, the T-Birds scored again. After some initial confusion, Kathleen Cahoon was able to pass to Rookie ’Bird Laura Trachsel for her to fire the puck into the net and make the final score 6-2.
UBC bench-boss Graham Thomas was happy with the T-Birds first win and response to the Friday night shut-out.
“We rose to the challenge, we were excited to come back to Thunderbird hockey and that’s what we did. We’re really proud of the group,” he said, with an emphasis on the team’s dynamics. “That’s the strength of our team — it’s a team effort.”
UBC will be looking to repeat their offensive performance as they host the University of Alberta Pandas this weekend at the Doug Mitchell Sports Centre on Friday at 7 p.m. and on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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