LETHBRIDGE — In what was supposed to be an avenged rematch of Friday night's loss at the Nicholas Sheran Arena, the Lethbridge Pronghorns were instead shut out on Saturday by the UBC Thunderbirds with a score of 5 – 0.
Thanks to another strong defensive outing and an excellent performance by starting goaltender Tory Micklash, who turned aside 22 shots in the game, Lethbridge has failed to score a goal in 113 consecutive minutes of play since their lone goal on Friday night.
Lethbridge opted to start Chloe Marshall in net, but she was charged with a loss after allowing five goals on 29 shots to close out this weekend series.
Lethbridge came out of the gate strong, getting an early 5-1 shots advantage on Micklash, but UBC was insistent on continuing their unanswered goals streak early, scoring just five minutes into the first frame.
With Sarah Thon's breakout pass reaching Kenzie Robinson, Robinson's two-line pass made it to Tiffany Chiu entering the offensive zone. Chiu cut around Mattie Apperson in front of the Lethbridge net and buried the shot past the glove of Marshall to give her team an early lead.
The Thunderbirds added to their lead 95-seconds later, as Mathea Fischer regained possession of the puck from a scrum behind the Lethbridge net. As Mikayla Ogrogniczuk was blitzing the net for the chance, Fischer found the defencemen who buries it top-shelf to widen their lead.
At the end of the first period, the Pronghorns led the shots on goal tally 14 – 5, but were unable to end the unanswered goal streak of the Thunderbirds that spanned into their prior contest.
Period two was a stingy defensive affair for both clubs, with neither team allowing many excellent looks at their netminders. While UBC won the shots-on-goal battle 10 – 8 in the frame, Lethbridge still held the overall lead by seven shots heading into the final frame.
UBC's unanswered scoring streak continued in the third period with three more goals in the final frame. Ireland Perrott carried the puck into the zone, softly dumping it to the far corner for a trailing Fischer. As both teams catch up to the play, Fischer found Hannah Clayton-Carroll in the slot to put it above Marshall and into the net for her team's third goal of the game.
On a power play opportunity, the Thunderbirds' special teams engaged in excellent puck cycling in the offensive zone. After getting the puck on her stick, Perrott shuffled around Tricia Van Vaerenbergh at the high slot and let go of a quick wrister that found twine behind a well-screened Marshall.
Inside the final half of the period, a Pronghorns defensive breakdown at the offensive blue line allowed Clayton-Carroll to steal the puck and head down the ice for a partial break, marked by a trailing Eryn Johanson.
Clayton-Carroll shoved off Johanson in front of the Lethbridge net, backhanding the puck through Marshall's legs as she was falling, putting the game permanently out of reach for the Pronghorns.
With the win, the Thunderbirds (7-2-1-2, 25 pts) leapfrog the Calgary Dinos (7-4-1-0, 23 pts), stealing top spot in the Canada West conference. Lethbridge (6-5-0-1, 19 pts) fall into a tie with the Saskatchewan Huskies (5-4-1-2, 19 pts), who are in action later today.
The Pronghorns take on the Dinos on Friday, November 22, at the Nicholas Sheran Arena in what is the opening game of the weekend series. Puck drop is at 7 PM. The T-Birds will return home to host the Mount Royal Cougars for a pair of games next weekend
