ELMIRA, Ont. – It may not have been the desired U SPORTS gold medal match, but the UBC Thunderbirds won their final game of the season, a convincing 5-1 win over the Alberta Pandas in the U SPORTS Consolation Final Sunday at the Dan Snyder Memorial Arena.
In a rematch of the Canada West Final in which the Pandas dethroned the three-time defending champion T-Birds, Sunday's result is certainly a measure of revenge for the blue and gold.
Playing the Pandas at the national championship tournament for the first time, the only way the two could have met was either in the gold medal game or the consolation final – the Pandas advancing to meet the T-Birds after a 3-0 win over St. FX Saturday.
"The (Canada West) final didn't go the way we wanted it to, it was a tough one there but to get this opportunity to play them the very last day is something special," said UBC head coach
Graham Thomas. "To win that game means a lot, it's special. This group is special and it's a really good way to go out."
For the second time this season it was Jacqueline Fleming who opened scoring against the Pandas. Off the rush,
Annalise Wong fed Fleming onto a partial break and the third-year forward wristed the puck over Grace Glover's left shoulder to put the 'Birds in front at the 7:49 mark.
Following a fairly evenly played opening period, the T-Birds blew things open with three goals within a seven minute span in the second.
Mackenzie Kordic snuck her first of the tournament, five-hole past Glover to double UBC's lead at 11:49.
Just 33 seconds later,
Makenzie McCallum scored her second of the weekend on a quick release from the slot after
Ashton Thorpe outmuscled a Pandas defender and fed it out front.
Kordic struck again with less than 90 seconds left in the period after collecting a loose puck in the corner, skating out to the far circle and wristing in her third of the post-season.
Just 1:41 into the third the Pandas got on the board with a Natalie power play goal, cutting Alberta's deficit to three still with plenty of time remaining.
But any hope of a Panda rally was quickly extinguished when
Grace Elliott's wrister from the left circle deflected off an Alberta defender's stick and past Mackenzie Dojahn, who replaced Glover in net to start the final period.
The game marked the final appearance in the blue and gold for graduating seniors
Kasundra Betinol,
Mackenzie Kordic,
Chanreet Bassi,
Makenzie McCallum,
Kennesha Miswaggon and captain
Sierra LaPlante.
"It's an amazing group of seniors and we played extra hard for them. They've made this program and made us better in every area. They've put is so much sacrifice, time and commitment to continue to push the program better. I'm really proud of them and I know they're all going to go on to do special things, whether that's continuing to play or otherwise, they're all going to be very successful."
