BOX SCORE BOX SCORE
VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds women's hockey team gave the Calgary Dinos all they could handle, but came up short as the No. 1 Dinos took a 5-2 decision Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Iya Gavrilova,
Hayley Wickenheiser,
Jenna Smith,
Chelsea Peterson and
Elana Lovell all scored goals for Calgary, while UBC had replies from Kaitlin Imai and Kaylee Chanakos.
In a match up between former Canadian national team teammates, 3-time Olympic gold medalist
Hayley Wickenheiser and Danielle Dube, it would be Dube winning the battle early. After just one shot a piece through the first seven minutes, the Dinos went on the power play and fired shot after shot, but Dube was up to the task, stopping eight shots on Calgary's first man advantage of the night. On the second power play of the evening the Dinos would make UBC pay,
Iya Gavrilova scored her first goal of the season to put the visitors up 1-0. With less then a minute left in the opening frame, Calgary converted a 2-on-1 as
Jenna Smith went bar down on Dube to give the Dinos a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes of action. Calgary outshot UBC 23-10 in the period.
UBC didn't waste anytime in the second period cutting the lead in half, Kaylee Chanakos scored her first of the season 1:49 into the frame to make it 2-1 for the Dinos. Wickenheiser would finally find a way to beat Dube, point blank in the slot she made no mistake to give the Dinos a 3-1 lead. The Thunderbirds had a late power play chance and definitely had their chances. Stephanie Schaupmeyer was stopped in close and then Tatiana Rafter thought she scored, but the referee waved it off after losing sight of the puck. A quick whistle that would sting the 'Birds and keep them down 3-1 through 40 minutes.
Chelsea Peterson gave Calgary a 4-1 lead just before the midway point of the third period, but UBC would not quit. Kaitlin Imai scored with just under three minutes remaining to cut the lead ito 4-2 and then Rebecca Unrau was sent in alone on a breakaway to make it a one goal game, but
Amanda Tapp made a huge save to keep it a two goal game. Calgary would add an empty netter to make it a 5-2 final.
Final shots were 45-26 in favour of Calgary. Dube made 40 saves on the night.
Imai and Chanakos each finished with one goal and one assist. Calgary's top line of Wickenheiser, Smith, and Gavrilova combined for three goals and six points.
These two teams will be back in action Saturday night at 8 pm MT at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
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