STONE NETS WINNER IN SHOOTOUT2013-01-18

By Lee Dorner (UBC Sports Information Assistant)

VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds saw their three-game win streak snapped in a shootout on Friday, as they went down 3-2 to the Saskatchewan Huskies at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.

Danny Stone was twice denied on open breakaways in regulation, but the Huskies’ second-leading scorer was the only player to convert her chance in the shootout, taking a slow approach on UBC goalie Danielle Dube before deking to her backhand and stuffing the puck just inside the post.

Game Stats

Carlee Hrenkiw and Cami Wooster tallied for Saskatchewan in regulation while Stephanie Schaupmeyer and Kaitlin Imai found the net for UBC.

After a wild four-goal first period, the teams settled into a scoreless game the rest of the way, but the T-Birds seemed to be taking control of the game late. After two periods that were fairly even in terms of scoring chances, the T-Birds controlled the pace of the third. They generated several quality chances but were repeatedly turned away by Huskies goalie Cassidy Hendricks.

 UBC outshot the Huskies 7-5 in overtime, and played almost the entire period in the offensive zone, other than an early penalty kill.

Each team racked up six minor penalties, and three of the game’s four goals in regulation came on the powerplay. The T-Birds took advantage of two early Huskies penalties right out of the gate, capitalizing on a five-on-three opportunity just as the first penalty expired about four minutes into the game.

Schaupmeyer grabbed the goal, her second of the season, with assists to Rebecca Unrau and Imai. The lead was short-lived though, as Hrenkiw equalized for the Huskies less than two minutes later with an unassisted goal.

Unrau and Imai hooked up again for the T-Birds to put them back in front about a minute after Hrenkiw’s goal, this time Imai setting up Unrau for her ninth of the season on another power play.

But the Huskies kept up the pressure despite their penalty troubles in the period, outshooting UBC 17-7, and it paid off with another equalizer around the midpoint of the first. The T-Birds’ first penalty of the period allowed Cami Wooster to tie the game again, assisted by her sister Cara.

The Huskies’ win pulls them one point closer to UBC in the standings, now just four behind the fourth-place T-Birds at 8-9-4 this year. UBC is 10-7-4, looking to jump at least one more spot in the standings before the regular season ends to earn home ice for a playoff series.

The T-Birds and Huskies wrap up their weekend series tomorrow, and Thomas likes his side’s chances if they can pick things up where they left off at the end of Friday’s overtime.

The puck drops at 7 p.m. on Saturday.