Box Score Box Score

Tatiana Rafter ended the second longest game in Canada West women's hockey history with a goal 4:39 into the third overtime as the University of British Columbia took a 3-2 win over the Regina Cougars on Saturday night.

UBC's victory forces a Game 3 in the best-of-three Canada West semifinal series. That deciding game will be played on Sunday afternoon with a 3 p.m. start time at The Co-operators Centre, with the winner advancing to next weekend's Canada West final series and earning an automatic berth to the 2013 CIS Championship in Toronto.

An individual effort from Rebecca Unrau set up Rafter's goal, as the second-year product of Humboldt, Sask. cut through the slot but was denied by Cougar goalie Toni Ross. Rafter pounced on the rebound and went far side to give UBC a hard-fought victory.

Christi Capozzi and rookie Emily O'Neill scored for UBC in regulation, while Brooklyn Moskowy and Kendra Finch both scored their first career postseason goals for the Cougars. Danielle Dube stopped 23 shots in the victory for UBC.

Ross was brilliant in the loss for the Cougars, stopping 43 of UBC's 46 shots.

Moskowy opened the scoring for the Cougars just two minutes into the first with Unrau serving an early hooking penalty. Paige Wheeler picked up a dump-in and fired a pass over to Moskowy, whose shot from the slot beat Dube to open the scoring. The U of R lead lasted until midway through the first, when Capozzi scored on a shot from the slot to even the score at 1-1.

The two teams went scoreless until the very end of the second period, when O'Neill scored with just 23 seconds left to give the Thunderbirds their first lead of the series. Genevieve Carpenter-Boesch drew the assist on O'Neill's goal.

Finch tied it up with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation after going in on a 2-on-1 with Wight. Wight slid a hard pass over to Finch, who redirected it through Dube to make the score 2-2.

The first overtime – a 10-minute period – went by without incident, but the Cougars had to kill off a two-minute minor after Gina Campbell was whistled for hooking 52 seconds into the second extra frame. The Cougars were able to survive the UBC power play and some ensuing continued pressure by the Thunderbirds.

The consistent pressure applied by UBC in overtime finally allowed the Thunderbirds to break through with Rafter's goal early in the third extra period. UBC had a 22-5 shot advantage in overtime and outshot the Cougars by a 46-25 margin over the entire game.

Regina was 1-for-3 with the man advantage, while UBC was held scoreless on its four opportunities.

NOTES: The game ended just 50 seconds short of the longest game in conference history, which saw Manitoba score a 3-2 win over Alberta back in Game 3 of the 2009 Canada West final series after 35:29 of overtime ... the Cougars will head to a Game 3 in a best-of-three series for the seventh time in program history.