UBC women’s hockey split their season-opening games this weekend in Calgary, beating the University of Calgary Dinos 5–2 before losing 3–0.
The defending Canada West champions, the T-Birds are favoured for a repeat this season, and it showed on Friday night.
Chanreet Bassi, the team’s point leader last season, opened the scoring with a backhand goal in the third minute of play. The Dinos recovered, scoring two quick goals to take a 2–1 lead in the first period.
The T-Birds couldn’t tie it up until the last minute of the second period when Mia Beird capitalized on Dinos goalie Gabriella Durante’s misplay and scored a shorthanded goal.
That momentum carried forward, with UBC tallying three goals in the third period, two of which were scored by fifth-year Ireland Perrott. With less than a minute left, rookie Cassidy Rhodes scored the empty netter to finalize the score at 5–2.
Saturday’s matinee game brought a lot of intensity from both teams. The first period went scoreless, but in the first minute of the second period, the Dinos snuck one past ‘Birds netminder Kate Stuart in her Canada West debut for a 1–0 lead.
The second period was full of penalties, but neither team was able to capitalize. While the Dinos couldn’t secure a power play goal, they did manage to score just seconds after Thunderbirds captain Rylind MacKinnon got out of the penalty box, giving Calgary a 2–0 advantage.
UBC brought the power in the third period, making lots of good chances despite drawing continuous penalties. In the end, the effort was not enough as Calgary was able to repeat their previous goal, scoring with a classic back-door goal just seconds after Perrott left the box, creating a 3–0 final.
The T-Birds will look to rebound in their home opener against the University of Manitoba Bisons on October 7 at 7 p.m. at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
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