Huskie women's hockey (File Photo) (Image Credit: Huskie Athletics)
UBC scores three straight goals for victory

Hard fought effort falls short

Nov 1, 2026 | 1:59 PM

The final score didn’t go in the home side’s favour, but Huskie head coach Steve Kook was pleased with the jump in a 3-2 defeat to the UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday night at Merlis Belsher Place. [1]

Saskatchewan scored 13 seconds into the game when Jacquelyne Chief’s point shot was stopped, but the rebound came right to Shelby Williamson who made no mistake. Eight minutes later, Anna Benoit set up Peppi Virtanen on a 2-on-1 break as the Huskies took a 2-0 lead.

“Obviously we had good energy to start the game,” said Kook. “There was a focus in making good decisions with the puck.”

Starting in the second period, the officials appeared to put an emphasis on body contact infractions. Ella Clarke of the Huskies was given a body-checking penalty less than a minute into the middle frame, and later Halle Franklin was sent to the box on a head contact call.

Kate Chuback and Jacquelyn Fleming had second-period markers for the T-Birds to tie the game at 2.

UBC scored its first power-play goal on its fourth chance of the game when Leila Sinclair took a centering pass in the slot five minutes into the third to give the Thunderbirds their first lead of the game.

While pressing for the equalizer, the Huskies were assessed another penalty, this time a four-minute minor to Cedar Swan for contact to the head with 5:56 remaining. “It’s hard to kill a double minor in the last six minutes when I thought we maybe had some push,” said Kook.

The head coach believes his team can take some lessons from the highly contested game. “This is good learning for us, six games into the season,” Kook said. “It shows the compete and details we will have to play with.”

The Huskies, who fall to 4-3-1, will visit the Trinity Western Spartans in Langley, B.C., on the Nov. 6-7 weekend. UBC, now 5-1, is a point up on TWU for top spot in the west division of the Canada West standings

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wray.morrison@pattisonmedia.com

X: @wraymorrison

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