The UBC women’s hockey team ended their 2015/16 last season with a silver medal finish — the best season in team history. Now, the team is settings its sights on producing yet another successful season.
The T-Birds have had a perfect record in the preseason, allowing no more than one goal in each game. Head coach Graham Thomas — who is entering his fourth year with the ’Birds — is impressed with the team’s performance so far, but said that last year’s Canada West championship title only heightens competition from other teams in the conference.
“We got to be on our guard — we got to be at our best because we’re going to have every team gunning for us,” said Thomas.
With the regular season now on the horizon, Thomas expects the team — which has a blend of both veteran and freshman players — to produce some good results even with the challenges that might come.
“We have a mix of new faces that are making our team better and challenging everyone, as well as having a really, really fantastic leadership corps,” said Thomas.
Even with the departure of last year’s leading scorer Rebecca Unrau, the ’Birds still have nine senior players — the largest group since Thomas became head coach in 2012. Notable senior players this year include forwards Haneet Parhar, Kathleen Cahoon and Casandra Vilgrain. On defence, the T-Birds also have Kelly Murray.
“For me, I obviously want to continue our production of points,” said Cahoon. “Our team is a lot deeper than last year, so I think we can get scoring from literally any line.”
Cahoon also said that on top of the skill that the veteran players bring to the ice, they also bring in a strong element of team cohesion which she sees as being an advantage for the team.
“This year, our team is really a family. We do everything together — we just love being around each other and I think that’s going to help us on the ice,” said Cahoon.
In the net, the T-Birds will be seeing action from three new goaltenders — Danielle Wierenga, Tory Micklash and Amelia Boughn — the last of whom was a transfer from Cornell University. Danielle Dube, Samantha Langford— two of the goaltending staff from last season — will not be returning to the team. Laura Taylor— another previous goaltender— unfortunately passed away earlier this year.
Still, Thomas believes that the goalies have performed strongly and is confident that they will continue to play well in the regular season.
“We’ve got all the confidence in the world in our goalie coach Pasco Valana. He’s been here with me every step along the way every year and he’s just phenomenal at working with our goalies,” said Thomas.
The ’Birds will play their first regular season doubleheader at home this weekend against the Saskatchewan Huskies. The puck will drop at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 7 and 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 8.
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