Photo credit David Moll

CALGARY (CIS) – Last year's CIS silver medallists, the McGill Martlets were defeated by the UBC Thunderbirds in a hard fought 4-2 decision in the second quarterfinal of the CIS Women's Hockey Championships on Thursday, March 17.

With the win, UBC advances to Saturday's first semi-final against the number one ranked Guelph Gryphons. The game takes place at 2 p.m. MT on Saturday, March 19 and will be broadcast on SportsnetONE. McGill will face the St. Thomas Tommies in the consolation semifinal Friday, March 18 at 11 a.m. MT. Both games are available live on the web at www.cis-sic.tv.

After finishing second in 2015 and first in 2014 at the CIS Championships, McGill fails to advance past the first round for the first time in three years. The CanadaWest winning UBC Thunderbirds are in their first National Championship since 2013, where they lost in the first round to the University of Toronto.

"I thought we played pretty well, we had a really good third period" said UBC head coach, Graham Thomas. "This team is just really good at playing through adversity, they put a lot of pressure on us, but we fought right to the end. Our goalie played well and our team was opportunistic. It's a really proud moment for our program."

The T-Birds were led by third year forward, Kathleen Cahoon who recorded two goals and an assist in her team's victory. McGill outshot UBC by a wide margin of 34-21, but goaltender Dube came up big for the T-Birds with a 32 save performance.

The Martlets had goals from veteran forwards, Gabrielle Davidson and MelodieDaoust.

UBC opened the scoring at 7:32 of the opening frame, when Hannah Clayton-Carroll's wrist shot beat Martlets' goaltender Taylor Hough. The T-Birds added a power play goal before the end of the period off the stick of Cahoon to make it 2-0 after 20 minutes.

McGill's Davidson picked up a power play goal in the second, but UBC answered back with a point shot deflected by Logan Boyd to regain a two goal lead for the T-Birds.

An early power play goal from Martlet's captain MelodieDaoust put McGill back within one in the third period. The T-Birds sealed the victory with an empty net goal from Cahoon with 1:45 left on the clock.

"Honestly, I thought we fought hard all game long, we battled right until the very end," said McGill's head coach, Peter Smith. "Give UBC credit, they played well and their goaltender played well. We outshot them, but they kept us to the outside a lot. We needed a bounce and we didn't get one, unfortunately sometimes that's how the game goes."

Erika Pyke received the Player of the Game award for the Martlets and UBC goaltender Danielle Dube's 32 save performance was rewarded with the Player of the Game title for her team.

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST PERIOD

1. UBC Hannah Clayton-Carroll (1) (HaneetParhar), 7:32
2. UBC Cahoon (1) (Rebecca Unrau), 12:02 PP

PENALTIES:

Tardif (UBC) interference, 0:59;
Daoust (MCG) bodychecking, 11:04;
Cahoon (UBC) hooking, 17:11.

SECOND PERIOD

3. MCG Gabrielle Davidson (1) (Stefanie Pohlod), 5:52 PP
4. UBC Logan Boyd (1) (Kathleen Cahoon), 9:29

PENALTIES:

Murray (UBC) bodychecking, 4:45;
Sutter (MCG) cross checking, 6:27.

THIRD PERIOD

5. MCG MelodieDaoust (1) (Gabrielle Davidson), 3:29 PP
6. UBC Kathleen Cahoon (2), 18:15 EN

PENALTIES:

Unrau (UBC) hooking, 0:58;
O'Neill (UBC) tripping, 3:10;
Cagianos (MCG) hooking, 8:20;
Lavoie (MCG) roughing, 19:09.

GOALS (by period)
UBC 2-1-1: 4
MCG 0-1-1: 2

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
UBC 6-4-11: 21
MCG 9-16-9: 34

POWER PLAY:
UBC 1-4
MCG 2-5

GOALTENDERS
UBC – Danielle Dube (W, 1-0, 34 shots, 32 saves, 2 GA, 60:00)
MCG – Taylor Hough (L, 0-1, 20 shots, 17 saves, 3 GA, 59:05)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
UBC: Danielle Dube
MCG: Erika Pyke

ATTENDANCE: 441
REFEREE: Meghan Mallette
LINESMEN: Shannon Kline, Kaylah Kreiger

START: 3:01
END: 5:02
LENGTH: 2:01

SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times MOUNTAIN TIME)

Thursday,March 17
11:00 Quarter-final 1: Guelph 3, St. Thomas 0
15:00 Quarter-final 2: UBC 4, McGill 2

Friday, March 18
11:00 Consolation 1: St. Thomas vs. McGill (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Quarter-final 3: No. 6 Western vs. No. 3 Saint Mary's (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
19:00 Quarter-final 4: No. 7 Calgary vs. No. 2 Montreal (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

Saturday, March 19
10:00 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Semifinal 1: Guelph vs. UBC (Sportsnet ONE / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *
17:30 Semifinal 2: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4 (Sportsnet ONE / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *

Sunday, March 20
8:45 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
9:00 5th-place game (www.CIS-SIC.tv) (at Joan Snyder Arena)
12:30 Final (Sportsnet 360 & TVA Sports 2 / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *

* Webcast of the semifinals & final are on pay-per-view basis.