A potential going away party for the B.C. Thunder was spoiled by the visiting Manitoba Intact last Saturday at Minoru Arenas.
Seeking their first trip to the National Ringette League Championships since 2013, the Thunder’s bid to move on to next month’s tournament in Prince Edward Island ended by being swept in the best-of-three series.
The Intact produced a 4-3 win in a shootout to take game one, then won by the same score hours later.
Both games were similar as the Thunder were in catch-up mode from start to finish.
The visitors jumped out to a 3-0 first quarter lead in the opener, before captain Nina Tajbakhsh put B.C. on the scoreboard 39 seconds into the second. Emma Paradis made it a one goal game less than three minutes later, setting the stage for Erika Lipsett’s power play equalizer midway through the fourth quarter.
Both teams missed some terrific chances to break the deadlock in the rest of regulation and overtime. Amber Biebrick, who scored twice earlier in the contest, converted Manitoba’s first attempt in the shootout and that proved to be the difference.
Game two saw the Intact open up a 4-0 lead by the early stages of the fourth quarter came back on a pair of goals by the Thunder's Kacy Hannensson and another by Angela Chichos but the rally ended there.
Amy Clarkson was terrific in the Manitoba net, stopping 40 shots in the clinching win and another 44 in game one.
The teams had finished just two points apart in the final regular season Western Conference standings, setting up the national qualifying series while first place Edmonton WAM! and runner-up Calgary RATH earned direct berths to PEI.
