ELMIRA, Ont. – Perhaps in the most brutal way possible, the UBC Thunderbirds have had their dreams of a national championship title dashed, falling 4-3 to the Université de Montréal Carabins in a quarter-final shootout at the U SPORTS Women's Hockey National Championship Friday afternoon.
After falling down 2-0 early in the second period, the T-Birds clawed their way back, scoring three straight to take the lead in the third.
But the Carabins found the equalizer when Juliette Rolland beat Elise Hugens at the 10:03 mark to eventually force 4-on-4 overtime.
The teams traded chances in the ten minute extra period but no one was able to find a way to avoid the shootout where the Carabins scored twice, Karine Sandilands the only Thunderbird to beat Montreal's Maude Desroches.
As a result, the 'Birds will now play a consolation semifinal for a third consecutive year, facing the University of Ottawa which also lost a shootout quarter-final, theirs at the hands of the New Brunswick Reds.
Scoreless after a fairly evenly played first period, the 'Birds were forced to kill off six minutes of penalties in the opening 20 minutes, but the country's leading penalty kill lived up to its billing.
The Carabins stunned the T-Birds faithful in the stands at the Woolwich Memorial Centre scoring twice within a 36 second span to break open a 2-0 lead before the second period was five minutes old.
But full credit to UBC, the veteran 'Birds stuck to their guns and remained composed, owning the second half of the frame.
The blue and gold got rewarded when Grace Elliott deflected a Jaylyn Morris point shot in the slot with four minutes left to give the No. 1 ranked T-Birds some much needed momentum heading to the final period.
Morris got the 'Birds even 3:48 into the third on a magnificent solo effort. The third-year defender intercepted a Montreal pass in the neutral zone, skated around multiple Carabins and slid the puck five-hole past Desroches.
UBC then took the lead less than three minutes later on a gift from the RSEQ conference runners-up. Off a Montreal faceoff win in the Carabins' zone, the puck simply slid off the blade of a defender at the side of the goal and slipped past an unsuspecting Desroches for the go-ahead marker, credited to Ilona Markova.
But the good will from the hockey gods toward UBC ended there. Just as the T-Birds' resilience paid off earlier in the game, Montreal found the equalizer thanks to Robillard who took a centring feed and shot through traffic, setting the stage for the eventual shootout finish.
The result marks the third straight year the T-Birds have ended up on the relegation side with a quarter-final loss, a best-case outcome now a fifth-place finish.
UBC can earn a spot in Sunday morning's fifth place game with a victory over the Ottawa GeeGees in Saturday's consolation semifinal which begins at 10:00 a.m. PT at Elmira's Woolwich Memorial Centre.
