Concordia powerplay too much to handle as Stingers advance to gold medal game

MONTREAL, QC. (U SPORTS) - Concordia was nearly perfect, going 3-for-4 on the powerplay as the No. 3-seeded Stingers to a 3-1 win over the No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds in the second championship semifinal of the 2023 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship at CEPSUM in Montreal on Saturday night.

Both sides had a feeling-out process to start the first period before Emmy Fecteau opened the scoring on the powerplay for the Stingers on their first opportunity. UBC came right back down on their first powerplay where Rhylind Mackinnon answered to tie it up and this game was stuck at 1-1 after the first.

The Stingers limited UBC to just four shots in the second period but failed to make the Thunderbirds pay on the other end for the first 16 minutes of the period. With just under four minutes to go, the Stingers powerplay struck yet again as Rosalie Bégin-Cyr gave Concordia a 2-1 lead heading into the third.

Concordia's powerplay proved to be too much again in this one, as Rosalie Bégin-Cyr scored her second of the game at the midway point of the third. Concordia slowed the pace of the game down in the last ten minutes, holding UBC to just five third period shots on their way to a 3-1 win.

Alice Philbert was solid again in net for the Stingers, making 18 saves on 19 shots to send the Stingers to the gold medal game. Elise Hugens made 20 saves on 23 shots in the loss for UBC.

The Stingers move on to their second consecutive national championship game appearance in as many years. They'll face the Mount Royal Cougars for gold on Sunday night at 7 p.m. (Eastern). UBC will take on the Montreal Carabins in the bronze medal game on Sunday at 3 p.m. (Eastern). All games at the championship can be seen on CBC Sports digital platforms (English) and at usports.ca (French).