SASKATOON, Sask. – The UBC Thunderbirds (24-1-3, 2-1) finished their 2023-24 season on a high note, earning a 4-1 victory over the host Saskatchewan Huskies (19-7-2) in the U SPORTS Consolation Final. The T-Birds finish fifth in the country for the second time in three years, sandwiching a U SPORTS bronze medal win last season.
Four different players scored for UBC in the victory and nine different T-Birds picked up points, with
Grace Elliott (1G, 1A) and
Cassidy Rhodes (1G, 1A) being the only multi-point players in the game.
Elise Hugens stopped 16 of the 17 shots that went her way, finishing the championships by only allowing one goal over her last six periods of play. The 'Birds went 2/4 on the powerplay, which included
Makenzie McCallum's game-winner.
"Two years in a row finishing by playing the host team, which is tough," reflected UBC head coach
Graham Thomas, as he wrapped up his 12
th season with the Thunderbirds. "Saskatchewan had a lot of fans who they played hard for, they played really hard. They played a great game, and put on an excellent event here."
"It's always amazing to win, to be able to finish your season, and for our seniors their careers, by being able to win their last game. It's consolation, but we won that half of the tournament, and that's still something to be proud of. The one loss doesn't define our season and doesn't define this group. It was a strange game on that Friday, but that's hockey sometimes, that's life.
I think the bigger picture takeaway for our team and our program is how we showed resilience and fight. We're going to learn from this and get stronger from it."
After the two teams felt each other out for the first five minutes of the game, UBC began to take over. A combination of lengthy possessions and aggressive forechecking had the T-Birds pinning the Huskies in their own zone. Eventually, after Huskies standout goaltender Camryn Drever made multiple point-blank saves,
Ashton Thorpe banged home a rebound from a
Mackenzie Kordic wrister to put the visitors up 1-0 before the home side even tested Hugens.
Saskatchewan didn't get their first shot on goal until just past the midway mark of the opening frame, but they made it count. An innocent looking wrister from the half boards by Kennedy Brown went off of a T-Birds defender's stick and changed direction just enough to flutter by the glove of Hugens and tie the game.
Minutes later, UBC's
Grace Elliott got tangled with Saskatchewan defender Isabella Pozzi in the Huskies zone. The bigger Elliott eventually shrugged off Pozzi, but she fell to the ice awkwardly and was down for several minutes. It appears Pozzi simply had the wind knocked out of her as she was back out for her regular shift shortly thereafter, but, buoyed by a hostile Huskies crowd screaming for Elliot to be thrown out for being stronger, Saskatchewan decided to seek revenge. Brooklyn Stevely went after Elliot on her next shift in blatant retaliation, much to the delight of many at Merlis Belsher Place wearing green. However, after Stevely was given a double-minor penalty for contact to the head, it was the T-Birds who got the last laugh.
UBC's first powerplay of the game was clinical. With constant movement from all five players throughout the advantage, the blue and gold were patient with the puck until
Cassidy Rhodes whipped a perfectly placed pass through the teeth of the Huskies defence, finding the tape of Mackenzie McCallum on the left dot. The fourth-year forward quickly snapped home a low shot to put the 'Birds back up by one.
A chippy first period ended with a 9-4 shot advantage for UBC.
The second period was a defensive grind until late in the frame. The Huskies had a great chance with four minutes to go, nearly banging home a loose puck in the slot. The puck got through Hugens, but the third-year goaltender was able to reach behind her and pull it off the goal line to maintain the 'Birds advantage.
After another Saskatchewan penalty, the T-Birds built on their lead. Coming off of a three-point game in the consolation semifinal, defender
Sophia Gaskell went to work again. She waited with the puck at the blue line, picked her spot, and ripped a wrister that Elliott then tipped past Drever while also screening the Canada West Player and Goalie of the Year.
The Huskies nearly answered in the dying seconds of the second, but Hugens managed to make a pair of stops on her back, with a pile of players on top of her and the net coming off of its moorings, just holding the disk from crossing the line with her left arm and glove.
The third period was very physical, and the parade to the penalty box continued for both teams. In all, each side had a player sent to the sin bin five times over the course of the game.
The two teams played to a stalemate in the third, until Rhodes added a short-handed empty netter at the end. The final tally had UBC with 27 shots and Saskatchewan with 17.
Joelle Fiala was named Nike Team Player of the Game in her final appearance for UBC. The second time she has won the award this tournament.
After the game, coach Thomas wanted to highlight the contributions of the four graduating seniors who had just finished their last game in a Thunderbirds uniform.
"All of the seniors are going to be missed, they bring a lot of character, a lot of leadership to our group," said Thomas. "We're going to have to have players on this team really step up and fill those roles. They leave a legacy."
"
Joelle Fiala is a true competitor, she's been like that her whole career. She's a warrior, a battler, never takes a shift off. She's grown a lot, really proud of her and excited to see what her next chapter is. She was a transfer who spent three years here and won three conference championships.
Our captain
Rylind MacKinnon… there's no words to fully describe her and what she's done for this program. She's fearless, so dedicated to her craft, puts enormous amounts of time and energy into getting better, she deserves all of the recognition she's gotten in this league, and more. Really excited to watch her continue to grow, because she's not done. She and Joelle should get opportunities at the professional level, and it's going to be a lot of fun to continue to watch them.
Reese Hiddleston has shown a lot of resilience battling through injuries, has put a lot of work in and came back better. She got some big wins this year. Some exciting and fun moments for me as a coach to watch her have some success this year and get back on the ice. Off the ice, she's calm, composed, kept the room light, just a good person with great character. An amazing addition in the locker room.
Sydney Neustaeter is also graduating, due to injury she hasn't been able to finish her career by playing, but she's given so much to this team, so selfless, does a lot for this program off the ice.
We're really going to miss all four of those players, but more than anything we're really proud of them."
The win caps a fantastic season for the T-Birds, in which they tied their own record for regular season points in Canada West and won the conference championship for a third consecutive year. It also marks the third straight year that the team has finished 2-1 at the U SPORTS Championships and ended their season with a victory.
