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Raider grad flying high with T'Birds

It’s nice to see a familiar face when you are on the biggest stage in Canadian university hockey.
Longview’ s Kaylin Snodgrass patrols the blueline for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds during the CIS Women’ s Hockey Championship at WinSport on
Longview’ s Kaylin Snodgrass patrols the blueline for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds during the CIS Women’ s Hockey Championship at WinSport on March 20. The Thunderbirds won national silver at the event.

It’s nice to see a familiar face when you are on the biggest stage in Canadian university hockey.

Kaylin Snodgrass got plenty of comfort when she took the ice for the UBC Thunderbirds in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s hockey final against the Montreal Carabins on March 20 at WinSport and saw mom and dad in the stands.

“It was very exciting, I don’t get to play in front of family and friends too much anymore, being away from home,” the Longview area native said. “It’s always fun to see them in the stands.”

Snodgrass needed some comfort after the T’Birds were thumped 8-0 by Montreal. The loss was like a hornet sting after a glorious hike in the mountains west of Snodgrass’ Longview home — a painful end to a memorable journey.

“It definitely wasn’t our best game,” said Snodgrass, a defenceman with UBC. “They had a great powerplay and we took a lot of penalties which really hurt us. The score didn’t really reflect how we played five-on-five — we outshot them. It was a heart-breaker to lose so badly at the end.

“At first we couldn’t look past the loss, but a week later, now I am happy with our season, finishing second. We surpassed everybody’s expectations.”

The T’Birds had advanced to the finals by shocking the no. 1 ranked Guelph Gryphons 2-1 in a shootout in the semifinals on March 19 in Calgary.

“It was pretty crazy, everybody was pretty happy and thrilled that we could knock off the no. 1 seed going into the tournament,” said Snodgrass, a 2014 graduate of Notre Dame Collegiate. “To be at a national tournament, go into overtime, a shootout, it was obviously very nerve-wracking but thrilling at the same time.”

The silver medal came in Snodgrass’s second year at UBC. She signed with the T’Birds after an all-star career with the Rocky Mountain Raiders of the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.

She said she felt much more comfortable in 2015-16, than in her rookie season of university hockey.

“I felt a lot better this year coming back — already knowing the team,” said Snodgrass, a science major at UBC. “Even with the schooling part, it was a lot easier to settle in for the first few weeks… Last year was a hard-adjustment coming in, especially the first few months. You know, the first time away from home and coming into a big new city (Vancouver) but I had great teammates and great support from home.

“This year, I knew what had to be done and it’s a lot better.”

Snodgrass finished the 2015-16 season with two assists, and a doctor’s report that shows how rough the supposed non-contact sport of women’s hockey can be.

“I had a concussion about Halloween and I ended up separating my shoulder just before playoffs,” Snodgrass said.

Still, the T’Birds rearguard was able to play in 17 of 24 regular season games, and for all of their playoff run.

She played on both the penalty kill and powerplay as well as logging plenty of five-on-five time for UBC.

She’s already looking forward to next year -- with an eye to winning that final game.

“We aren’t losing too many girls so our team will still be pretty good,” Snodgrass said. “I will still be sticking in the same role which is nice.

“We have some really good recruits coming in and I’m excited to see how we can do.”

For more information on the T’Birds’ near national championship run go to www.gothunderbirds.ca

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