Box Score Box Score
Gina Campbell (pictured) scored both goals for the University of Regina's women's hockey team as the Cougars defeated the UBC Thunderbirds 2-1 on Friday night in Game 1 of a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series at The Co-operators Centre.
Paige Wheeler assisted on both of Campbell's goals, while
Jennifer Schmidt got the start between the pipes for the Cougars and stopped 15 of UBC's 16 shots in the win.
Rebecca Unrau scored for UBC, which sees its nine-game winning streak snapped with the loss.
The Cougars got on the board a couple minutes past the midway point of the opening period after an alert Wheeler picked off an errant UBC pass in the corner. Wheeler immediately turned and slid a pass to Campbell at the left hash mark and Campbell made no mistake, firing a snap shot that snuck through UBC goalie Danielle Dube to notch her first career playoff goal.
Campbell put the Cougars ahead 2-0 with a goal eight minutes into the middle frame. Wheeler won a draw to Campbell at the top of the slot, who one-timed it through a maze of players and past Dube to score what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.
Unrau got the Thunderbirds on the board late in the second. The second-year forward took a nice pass off the boards from Christi Capozzi in stride and broke into the Cougar zone, made a nice move to get into the slot, and took a shot that just trickled through Schmidt and in. Many players on the ice – including Unrau herself – thought Schmidt had made the save, but the red light came on after the puck squeaked through and referee Chris Shore was quick to signal the goal.
Despite actually being outshot in the final period 7-5, UBC applied some serious late pressure to the Cougars but were unable to score the equalizer. The Cougars had to kill off a Wheeler hooking penalty midway through the third, while a late slashing infraction by Tatiana Rafter put UBC down a player in the final minute.
The Cougars enjoyed a 28-16 shot advantage in the win, while both teams finished the game 0-for-3 on the power play.
Game 2 of the series will start on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
