Welcome back to Weekend Rundown, your place to stay up to date with all of the different Thunderbirds teams!
Women's hockey brings home weekend sweep against the Spartans
On Friday, UBC’s women’s hockey team headed to Langley to play their cross-town rivals, the Trinity Western Spartans.
The T-Birds left victorious with a win and two goals from Mackenzie Kordic.
They kept the play in the Spartans’ zone for the first period, going into the second with a 1–0 lead. Trojan Olivia Leier managed to score the team’s only goal on a power play.
The T-Birds finished the second period with three back-to-back goals, the score remaining the same through the third period and resulting in a 4–1 win.
On Saturday night, where the Spartans were hoping for redemption. Emma Hall put the T-Birds on the scoreboard with the first goal of the game and the season.
However, the T-Birds found themselves quickly falling behind when the Spartans tied the game 1–1 and, a minute later, pulled ahead with another goal.
The T-Birds took control of the game in the second, tying the score once again. Kordic put the T-Birds in the lead with a tip in front of the net.
Rising tempers and frustrations led to a string of penalties and a two-player advantage the Spartans were unable to capitalize on. The T-Birds scored three back-to-back goals, making it a 5–2 game.
They finished the period leading 6–2 after a goal by Kenzie Robinson with two seconds left on the clock.
The Spartans started to catch up with a goal from Chloe Reed three minutes into the third. Things started to look worrying for the T-Birds late in the third period when the Spartans made it a 6–5 game, but they redeemed themselves with a backhand shot from Ashley McFadden that trickled in. UBC pulled off a the slightly-precarious win against TWU with a final score of 7–5.
This puts the T-Birds second in the Canada West standings, two points ahead of the University of Manitoba Bisons. The T-Birds host the University of Regina Cougars this Friday and Saturday in hopes of maintaining their Canada West standing.
Thunderbirds topple Spartans in sole weekend contest
Although Saturday’s contest was postponed due to league schedule rearrangements, the UBC men’s hockey team took to the ice on Friday night in their second to last game of the season. The visiting Trinity Western University Spartans were chased out of the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird arena by a score of 7–2.
Following a special pre-game ceremony to recognize the T-Birds' graduating seniors, UBC came out flying. Barely one minute into the game, Jake Kryski busted into the Spartans zone and fed Scott Atkinson with a crisp pass across the zone.
Atkinson wired the puck off the post, but Kryski reached through the crowded crease and tapped it into the net giving UBC the 1–0. Minutes later, Kryski once again snuck his way into the Spartans zone before finding Atkinson behind the defence.
Atkinson stunned Trinity Western goaltender Issac Labelle with a beautiful release, placing the puck top corner to make it a 2–0 game just six minutes in.
The Spartans answered back in the second period, after an awkward shot from the point, which fell out of netminder Rylan Toth's reach, and Trinity Western forward Jarrett Penner tucked in the rebound.
UBC regained their two-goal lead just minutes later, before extending it with goals from Chris Douglas and Matt Revel.
Heading into the final frame with a 4–2 lead, the T-Birds led launched a more physical program against a frustrated Spartans group. With three more tallies from the confident UBC offence, and some big stops from Toth to demoralize their fiery opponents, the T-Birds walked away with a 7–2 victory in front of an impressive home audience.
For UBC, Atkinson led the way with two goals and four points, while defenceman Jonathan Smart had four assists.
Toth stopped 22-of-24 shots to end his four-game losing skid and tie for the conference lead in wins with 11.
This Saturday, the T-Birds will remain home to play their final game of the regular season and will look for another big win against the Spartans.
With a win next weekend UBC could clinch second in the conference and earn themselves a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Comeback of the men's basketball team with a win against the Cascades
The men's basketball team bounced back with a 91–82 win against the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades after two back-to-back losses playing the University of Victoria. This puts them in first place in the West division of Canada West standing.
On Friday evening, the T-Birds hosted the Cascades and scored 44 points in the paint.
Fourth-year forward Sukhman Sandhu stood out in this victory — 21 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line.
Sandhu scored 10 points in the first quarter to break a 10–10 tie and headed to the second with a 27–19 lead. Then added a put-back layup to maintain 10-point advantage to a 50–42 lead heading into halftime.
The T-Birds came back even stronger in the third quarter with 28 points, including third-year Grand Audu's seven points in the frame for a 78–60 lead after the third.
The Cascades did try to comeback in the fourth and outscored the T-Birds 22–13, but it was not enough to take back the lead and finished the game with 91–82 win for the T-Birds.
Audu added 18 points and seven boards as well as UBC guard James Woods putting up 15 points throughout the game.
The T-Birds are on the road this Saturday to play against the UBC Okanagan Heat. The T-Birds' last home game of the regular season is on February 23, hosting the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack.
