The UBC Thunderbirds answered the bell in game-three of their best-of-three Canada West Semifinals series, jumping out to an early lead and never looking back en route to a 6-2 victory over the Calgary Dinos Sunday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
A day after being shutout by the Dinos in Game two, the T-Birds offence was on full display in the deciding game, as the home squad saw six different goal scorers and twelve players record at least one point.
Elise Hugens stopped 27 of the 29 shots she faced while Gabriella Durante made 24 saves in goal for the Dinos.
Facing elimination after the upset loss yesterday, T-Birds head coach
Graham Thomas was very pleased with the effort his team showed to win the series.
"I think we were focused, we were determined, we just had that fire," said Thomas. "I think we needed that loss; it taught us a lot, we played focused and fired up and that's T-Bird hockey."
UBC had a perfect start, opening the scoring less than four minutes in. After
Jacquelyn Fleming won an offensive zone faceoff,
Chanreet Bassi jumped on the puck and slipped in behind the Dinos' defense, sliding the puck across to
Cassidy Rhodes who fired it into the open net.
The 'Birds kept the pressure on, not letting Calgary get any sustained pressure for much of the period, but Durante held firm in the Dinos goal and kept the deficit to just one for the time being.
The Dinos had a great opportunity to equalize with a powerplay late in the first, but the T-Birds killed it off and then doubled their lead very soon after that. With less than two minutes to go before the intermission
Sophia Gaskell ripped a slapshot from the point that was deflected in by
Madisyn Wiebe.
Calgary came out with a burst of energy to begin the second, but it all came undone with a defensive giveaway that left
Makenzie McCallum wide open in front of goal. Her shot rang off the crossbar, but
Ashton Thorpe swooped in to score off the rebound.
The roles were then reversed just six minutes later, as Thorpe made a beautiful move on the rush to deke around a Dinos defender and spring herself on a breakaway, Durante made a great initial stop but McCallum was there to push the puck over the line for the fourth goal of the game.
The Dinos had a grade A chance to get on the board soon after with a breakaway for Courtney Kollman, but Hugens stood tall with a massive save. Less than 20 seconds later, UBC responded with a wrist shot from
Joelle Fiala bouncing off Grace Elliot's leg and into the goal to make it 5-0.
Hugens' shutout was finally broken five minutes into the third, when Brooklin Fry found the top corner from the point on a powerplay. The Dinos cut the lead to three with just under six minutes to play thanks to a goal from Josie McLeod, but that was as close as they would come..
With just three and a half minutes left and the Dinos' net empty, Bassi jumped a passing lane and stole the puck. She skated it into the Calgary zone and iced the game with an empty netter, her team-leading fourth point of the series.
The T-Birds now have the chance to win their third straight Canada West championship, as they advance to take on either Alberta or Mount Royal at home in the finals. The Thunderbirds have not lost a playoff series on home ice since 2015.
After the game, coach Thomas reiterated that his team needs to remain locked in and take things one game at a time.
"We're excited, it's going to be an absolute battle and dogfight," added Thomas. "Every year is different – we can't rely on what we've done in the past and I think we learned that this weekend."
Game 1 of the Canada West Finals will be on Friday, March 1
st at Doug Mitchell Thunderbirds Sports Centre. As usual you can catch all the action on
Canada West TV.
