TORONTO – Despite heroic efforts from a couple of senior players in their second-last university game, the UBC Thunderbirds were unable to clinch a spot in the gold-medal final of the CIS women's hockey championship on Saturday night in Toronto.
UBC fell 5-3 to the top-seeded Montréal Carabins, who exploded for three third-period goals to wrap up pool play at Toronto's Varsity Arena.
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Kaitlin Imai (Coquitlam, BC) and
Emily Grainger (Sooke, BC) both got two points for UBC.
“Our players have got to be extremely proud of what they've done for themselves and for our program,” said
Graham Thomas, the CIS Coach of the Year. “They've earned a lot of respect this year. We played hungrier and we played more as a team and I was really happy with how we came out tonight.”
WHK: T-Birds v. Montreal (Mar. 9, 2013) Gallery
Tied 2-2 at the second intermission, Montréal went ahead for good early in the final frame when Casandra Dupuis sent a pass from behind the net to Marion Allemoz. The second-year forward made no mistake, going five-hole for the lead.
Laurence Beaulieu notched the eventual-game winner less than three minutes later, sending a point shot through traffic between the legs of UBC netminder
Samantha Langford (Pense, SK). Montréal's final tally on the night came with just under seven minutes left, after Deschênes one-timed the cross-crease feed for her first goal of the tournament.
Each goalie was riddled with rubber throughout the night with Carabins goalie Élodie Rousseau Sirois stopping 27, while Langford, who made a number of spectacular stops to keep UBC in the game, made 30 saves.
Third-year UBC forward
Tatiana Rafter (Winnipeg, MB) opened the scoring midway through the first period when she received a centering pass from Grainger from behind the net and one-timed it past Rousseau Sirois.
Sophie Brault evened the score when she wired a shot into the top corner on the 5-on-3 advantage.
Montréal took a 2-1 lead after a nice tip-in by Demmie Charlebois. The rookie winger beat Langford low stick-side after a slap pass from Montreal native Katia Murray.
All the momentum was with the Carabins until Imai took the puck wide right and drove the net, launching a backhand straight up in the air that fell nicely behind Rousseau Sirois. The goal came with just under two minutes to go in the period and left the score deadlocked at 2-2 after 40 minutes of play.
After three unanswered goals from the Carabins, the Thunderbirds made a late charge, closing the gap to 5-3 with a goal on a 6-on-4 advantage, after Langford was pulled with about five minutes to play.
Imai tallied her second on the night, shoveling the loose puck home after a rebound on a point shot by Grainger, who was named UBC's player of the game after recording two assists.
The Thunderbirds finished 1-for-3 on the power play while Montreal was 2-for-5.
UBC will face Queen's for fifth place on Sunday at 9 a.m. Pacific time.
Montreal will face Calgary in the gold-medal game, while St. Francis Xavier will play host Toronto for bronze.
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