Blake Murphy Sports Writing

Regina, Saskatchewan – The UBC Thunderbirds will head into the holiday break on a down note after losing for the second night in a row to Regina. Following a 3-1 loss on Friday, UBC fell 5-1 in a game that was far closer than the score would indicate.

BOX SCORE

Shorthanded for most of the past few weeks, UBC will now get a chance to rest up and refocus heading into the second half of the season.

“We’re proud of the girls,” said head coach Graham Thomas. “We’ve had a lot of adversity with the flu and injuries, we’ve been dropping like flies, especially this weekend. The effort they put forth was great, they played a really good 60 minutes for us.”

The game looked decided early with Regina scoring three goals in the opening frame on freshman Danielle Lemon (Madison, Wisconsin). Thomas turned to Samantha Langford (Pense, SK) to open the second, but Regina managed another goal shortly after the puck dropped.

From there, UBC settled down. The returning Kaitlin Imai (Coquitlam, BC) scored on the power play late in the period to bring the score to 4-1.

In the third, though, the Thunderbirds couldn’t capitalize on three power play chances and 19 shots on net, while Regina managed to tack on a fifth goal for insurance.

Kendra Finch led the way for the Cougars with two goals and an assist.

As it stands, the Thunderbirds find themselves in fourth place in the Canada West conference, three points back of Alberta and just a single point up on Saskatchewan. The conference is tight enough that losing a pair in a single weekend can have a huge impact on the standings, as Alberta and Mount Royal have found out in recent weeks.

UBC will get a month off to focus on exams, family, the second half of the season and, most importantly, getting back to full strength. The Thunderbirds will start back up on January 4 on the road against the first place Calgary Dinos.