Jeff Sargeant, UBC Thunderbirds
VANCOUVER – A stream of trips to the penalty box combined with facing one of the nation's top power plays proved to be too much for the UBC Thunderbirds (0-1-0-0) to overcome, as they fell 5-4 to the visiting Manitoba Bisons (1-0-0-0) to open the Canada West season Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
The Bisons scored three times on the power play in the first two periods staking themselves out to a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes. Venla Hovi recorded a goal and two assists for the visitors. The 'Birds battled back with a strong effort in the third including a pair of goals by captain Celine Tardif, but the deficit was just too great.
"Our focus needs to be better right from puck drop," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas. "We have to be better. We had way too many unforced turnovers. We had a tough time digging our way out and then had trouble breaking out and then had to fight penalties on top of that."
The second period was one to forget for the 'Birds as Manitoba broke the game open with three goals in less than four minutes including a 5-on-3 power play marker by Alexandra Anderson which gave the Bisons a three-goal lead heading into the final period.
UBC was called for a delay of game minor after being late to come out of the dressing room for the final period while the T-Birds spent six of the first seven minutes of the frame on the penalty kill. But some solid work on the PK proved to be the start of a big momentum swing for UBC.
After some good offensive zone pressure by the 'Birds, Tardif fired a wrister from the blue line that found its way through traffic and past Bisons netminder Rachel Dyck to pull UBC within two, with both Mathea Fischer and Shay-Lee McConnell picking up the assists.
Then with the T-Bird net empty for the extra attacker, Tardif finished off her second career Canada West multi-goal game with 10 seconds on the clock, just not quite enough time to complete the comeback.
"It was great effort down low from our forwards, they really put the work in there and made it easy for us up top, a couple good passes and I got some good shots off," said Tardif, who knows what her team needs to do to be successful in Saturday's rematch.
"We need to bring our energy and bring our third-period mentality straight from puck drop."
"I was really impressed in the third," added Thomas who had high praise for team's ability to fight through adversity and battle back.
"We kept pushing through and were very resilient and we pushed back and started putting pressure on them."
The Bisons outshot the 'Birds 39-20 and finished 3-for-8 on the power play. UBC failed to score on four man advantages.
After facing 31 shots through two periods, UBC starter Amelia Boughn was replaced to start the third by Tory Micklash who stopped all eight shots she saw.
Emily Costales earned her first career Canada West goal with a second period marker on a play that was made possible by some tremendous Ireland Perrott puck handling earning the rookie forward her first helper.
The Thunderbirds look for the season opening series split with the Bisons Saturday afternoon. Puck drop at Doug Mitchell is set for 2 p.m. PT.
PHOTO BY: Rich Lam/UBC Thunderbirds