LETHBRIDGE — It was well expected heading into this game that the UBC Thunderbirds would bring their defensive tenacity with them across the Rockies, and they indeed displayed it prominently on Friday night as they took down the Lethbridge Pronghorns by a score of 4 – 1.
The Pronghorns dropped all three points in a contest at the Nicholas Sheran Arena for the first time this season, ending a five-game streak where they captured at least a point in each contest played in their home rink.
UBC starter Tory Micklash stopped 22 of 23 shots faced in the win, while Lethbridge netminder Alicia Anderson made 26 saves in what was her first home loss of the season.
In the game's sixth minute, Kianna Dietz stole the puck from Thunderbird Ashley McFadden behind the net immediately after a UBC defensive zone faceoff win in the first period. Dietz backhanded it to Tricia Van Vaerenbergh directly in front of Micklash, who found ample space under the far-side blocker arm to open the scoring.
UBC's answer came exactly 30 seconds later, as a breakout pass by Hannah Koroll bounced off the boards to Emily Moore, shovelling it ahead to Ireland Perrott. Perrot took it into the zone on her own, took her shot around Kirana Stocker at the top of the far circle, placing it just out of reach of Anderson's glove to tie the game at ones.
Period two was huge for the Thunderbirds as they took control of momentum right from the start. Despite being equal to the Pronghorns in shots halfway through the frame, UBC pulled ahead with two goals in three minutes to take control of the game.
Off a failed clearing attempt by Lethbridge kept in by Mikayla Ogrodniczuk, Emma Hall forced her way back into the offensive zone but was tripped up by Kenzie Lausberg. The puck trickled over to an open Chanreet Bassi who made no mistake deking and burying the puck past a sprawling Anderson.
Not long after that on a power-play opportunity, UBC freed the puck from a scrum at the half-boards with Shay-Lee McConnell in control. She backhanded the puck to the nearby Hannah Clayton-Carroll, who found a path to Mathea Fischer's stick for the one-timer past Anderson.
The gap provided by the pair of goals was further widened by Clayton-Carroll and Fischer later in the period, thanks to a breakout pass by Kennesha Miswaggon landed on the stick of Clayton-Carroll. The UBC Forward sped past Stocker at the near-side blue line while protecting the puck to get an open look at Fischer, with Fischer burying it past Anderson sliding the opposite way.
Fischer's second goal of the game put the Pronghorns down by three heading into the final frame, in which Lethbridge conceded most of their desire for momentum to the visitors early, surrendering eight shot attempts on their own net in the first ten minutes while garnering only one for themselves against Micklash.
Lethbridge managed to inadvertently recapture momentum in the latter half of the final period, getting the shot tally to a 12 – 10 count in favour of their opponents. However, with no third period scoring, the Pronghorns would fall to the Thunderbirds in this first game of the weekend series.
With the win, the Thunderbirds (6-2-1-2, 22 pts) leapfrog the Pronghorns (6-4-0-1, 19 pts) for second in the Canada West conference, sitting one point behind the Calgary Dinos (7-4-1-0, 23 pts) for top spot in the conference.
The rematch takes place on Saturday afternoon at the Nicholas Sheran Arena, with puck drop at 1 PM.
