U SPORTS

UBC Thunderbirds: Eventful Opening Weekend

Thunderbirds’ Vilgrain, Saxvik tied for lead in CIS in scoring

CIS Women’s Hockey opened its season this past weekend with 8 out of 9 games played by Canada West teams. Manitoba, Alberta, and Regina all went undefeated, winning by a combined 24GF to 5GA.

UBC makes headlines despite 1st loss to Huskies since 2014

An undisciplined first period left UBC stunned and eventually defeated in game two by a score of 5-3 after logging a shutout just the day prior to Saskatchewan. However, despite splitting the series, UBC had a big weekend in women’s hockey. With several alumni present, the Thunderbirds hosted a banner raising ceremony to honor their 2015-2016 Canada West championship team prior to the first game. In addition, prior to the second game, the Thunderbirds honored team co-founder and first head coach, Laura Bennion, by retiring her jersey.

Hear what Bennion has to say about her special night:

Although UBC is likely not happy about the manner in which they lost their second game of the year, the talent on their team has gotten off to a promising start. The top two scorers in CIS Women’s Hockey are currently UBC forwards: UBC 4th year Cassandra Vilgrain (Calgary, Alberta) and 5th year Nicole Saxvik (North Vancouver, British Columbia) are both tied for the league lead in points with 5.

A UNH Wildcats transfer out of the NCAA, Vilgrain has rich bloodlines as her dad, Claude, is a former New Jersey Devil and Canadian National team player. With 3 years of Hockey East experience under her belt, her transition to CIS has been seamless, giving the reigning champs another strong offensive weapon.

Starting at :47 seconds you can see Vilgrain’s goal and post game comments from Friday’s match: