UBC Thunderbirds practicing at Father Bauer Arena on Tuesday, October 24, 2017.
VANCOUVER, B.C – The UBC Thunderbirds are back from a four-game road trip and ready to hit the ice tomorrow night vs Lethbridge. The 4-2-0 Thunderbirds picked up three consecutive wins on the road, before being shutout 1-0 by the Regina Cougars on Saturday. The USports number two ranked team in the country, will look for a bounce back game.
Coach Graham Thomas wants to see more pucks to the net, intensity, and an overall smarter game from his team. At 3-3, the Pronghorns sit sixth in the Canada West Conference. Lethbridge presents an interesting challenge for UBC as they have the top defence in Canada West, having allowed a league low, nine goals this season.
“Yeah, the Pronghorns always come prepared, and play us really hard,” Thomas admitted. “We’ve had some good battles with them. Tight games, and I don’t expect anything but that this weekend.”
Lethbridge goalkeeper, Alicia Anderson comes into this weekend with a .957 save percentage (1st overall), 202 saves (1st overall), and a sparkling 1.55 GAA (3rd overall). Getting traffic in front of Anderson, and shooting from everywhere will be the key to throwing the Calgary, Alberta native, off her game.
Special teams are one area that UBC wants to improve on. Coach Thomas wasn’t overly thrilled with his teams power play, and penalty killing while on the road. Both could use a positive boost. UBC certainly has the snipers to ripple the net while on the power play.
“Power play started out really good,” said, Thomas. “Our penalty kill has been better, and we’re getting that back up, but our power play does need to be better. We’re going to work on it. We’ve been making some changes, and trying some different things. There’s a little bit of grace there, and a little bit of patience with the power play.”
Playing against a stingy team like Lethbridge means dominating on special teams, and especially staying out of the box. UBC Thunderbirds, defender Kirsten Toth, leads Canada West with 26 penalty minutes this season. Cutting back her time in the box is a must.
“It’s something that we’re working with her, and talking to her about,” Thomas revealed. “It’s tough. Some of it was just off one play, she had 14 penalty minutes, a 10 minute misconduct. A little bit of fisticuffs, so I think that skews the number a bit.”
UBC Thunderbirds defender, Kirsten Toth during practice in February, 2016.
Fisticuffs aside, UBC is a much stronger and organized team with Kirsten Toth patrolling the blue-line, shutting down opposition forwards. The fifth-year veteran is working towards more of a disciplined game, while still playing quality defensive-zone hockey.
“I think a big thing is stay disciplined going into next weekend,” Toth said. “Last weekend, I racked up the minutes, and it doesn’t look too good. It never feels good putting your team on the penalty kill. My goal personally is to stay out of the penalty box.”
Keeping Toth on the ice will be vital, but it’s also important for the entire team to stay within the game, and play whistle to whistle. Opposition teams are going to have games vs UBC circled on their calendar. UBC needs to beat them on the ice, and not in the box.
“At the same time, it’s not just Toth,” Thomas said. “We as a team need to be more disciplined. There’s some emotions that are getting the best of us. Teams come at us hard, because they want to take us down. We’ve got to be prepared for that. We’ve got to be able to still play hockey, keep our cool, and our focus.”
While Toth wants to cut back on the PIM’s, she won’t completely change her game to do that. Yes, she can play a physical brand of hockey, and still remain on the ice. It’s all about positioning, getting your stick in lanes, taking the right angle on a player, blocking out, defensive communication with teammates, and timing.
“There’s certain players on other teams that are more prone to taking penalties,” Toth said. “I think the other teams know that I’m more prone to taking penalties, but I think that just goes a long with the style of my play. Sometimes you’ve got to do, what you’ve got to do on the ice. Emotions aside, it’s important to let the other teams know sometimes that you’re there.”
Every succesful winning hockey team has players who have everyone’s back on the ice, no matter what. UBC knows that if teams can’t beat them on the scoreboard, Kirsten Toth will be there to defend, and stick up for her teammates if they want to take liberties. That’s when you can afford to kill off the odd penalty for a face wash and an exchange of pleasantries.
UBC Thunderbirds vs Lethbridge Pronghorns
Friday, October 27 – 7:00 p.m. at The Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Saturday, October 28 – 2:00 p.m. at The Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
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