SASKATOON – The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds women's hockey team scored three unanswered goals, including the overtime winner to edge the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-2 in Game 1 of the 2019-20 Canada West quarter-final series on Feb. 14 at Merlis Belsher Place.
 
In a regular-season series that saw the road team win all four contests, the Thunderbirds continued that trend with the overtime victory.
 
Mathea Fischer was the engine for UBC on the night, as the forward scored the overtime winner, to go along with two beautiful assists on a pair of powerplay goals. Tiffany Chiu and Hannah Koroll provided the other tallies for the visitors, helping spur the comeback effort.
 
"We had a bit of a slow start, but we got the lines going, and everyone was playing their best. That allowed for some of our top players and veterans to get a little bit of rest and make some plays, and that's what they did. Our best players were our best players," said Thunderbirds head coach Graham Thomas.


 
After trailing by two goals late in the second period, the visitors scored two powerplay goals in the final 24 minutes of regulation, as they went 2-4 with the man-advantage on the evening.
 
"Special teams. That's playoff hockey," said Huskies head coach Steve Kook. "They got some momentum off the first goal, and then we backed off a little bit, and then they got some momentum off the second goal."
 
With the win, the Thunderbirds are one victory away from advancing to the Canada West semifinal. Meanwhile, the Huskies will have their season on the line tomorrow night.
 
Abby Shirley led the way for Saskatchewan with a goal and an assist, while Leah Bohlken's powerplay tally was the other marker for the home side.
 
In a goaltending matchup between two netminders who sit in the top six of the conference's all-time career record books in save percentage, it was Tory Micklash who came out on top of the battle. Micklash kicked aside 16 of 18 shots to record the victory.


 
At the opposite end of the ice, Huskies goaltender Jessica Vance made 19 saves on 22 shots in the defeat.
 
Saskatchewan opened the scoring just 6:03 into the contest. Angus' point shot hit Micklash up high, causing the netminder to momentarily lose sight of the puck, which fell right to the stick of Shirley and the third-year forward made no mistake in banging the rebound home to make it 1-0 Huskies.
 
Saskatchewan controlled play for the majority of the opening frame, outshooting the visitors 7-3 in the first.
 
After the visitors found themselves in some penalty trouble in the second period; the Huskies went to work on a 52-second five-on-three. While the Thunderbirds were able to kill off the first of the minor penalties, they did not come out of the mess unscathed, after Bohlken found the back of the net on a seeing-eye blast from the point that extended the Huskies lead to two.


 
However, late in the frame, Saskatchewan got into some penalty trouble of their own and UBC made them pay. With Fischer quarterbacking the powerplay from the point, she delivered a tremendous dish onto the stick of Chiu, who made no mistake, roofing her wrister from the side of the cage to get the visitors back within one.
 
The Thunderbirds would enter the third searching for the equalizer and after the Huskies went back to the box, they took advantage once again. A beautiful backhand saucer feed from the half wall from Fischer found Koroll all alone in the slot, who put the puck past Vance to even up the contest at two goals apiece.
 
After regulation was unable to determine a victor, the pair of clubs took to overtime.
 
With just 16 seconds remaining in the first overtime frame, jubilation ensued for the visitors.


 
After Vance pushed aside a wrister from Hannah Clayton-Carroll, Fischer was waiting on the doorstep, as she batted home the puck out of the air and into the cage, recording her third point of the night and more importantly, a victory for UBC.
 
The Thunderbirds will look to advance to the conference semifinal series with a win Saturday night with puck drop just after 5 p.m. PT at Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon.
 
"We know it's going to be a great battle tomorrow night. They have got a great team and some great senior players that are going to bring everything they got. We've got to be prepared to match that intensity," said Thomas.
 
Meanwhile, the Huskies will take the ice with their season on the line, as they will look to live to see another day.
 
"We need to make sure we have a good start. We need to keep the momentum and obviously stay out of the box," said Kook.