ELMIRA, Ont. – Sunday afternoon (March 22) at the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Elmira, Ontario, the Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team lost 2-1 to the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Reds in the bronze medal game at the 2026 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championships. Less than 24 hours after a hard-fought, overtime loss to the Concordia Stingers in the semifinals, the Gryphons were back on the ice for an 11am puck drop in the U SPORTS bronze medal game versus the Atlantic champion, UNB Reds. The Gryphons found themselves in an early hole, with UNB opening the scoring just 2:35 into the first period on a goal from Katelyn Scott. The Gryphons would answer back midway through the first period thanks to team captain,
Katherine Heard, who made no mistake on a shorthanded breakaway, beating UNB goalie Cassie McCallum to tie the game at 1-1. For Heard, a fifth-year sociology major at the University of Guelph, it marked the latest goal in a memorable postseason. It was Heard's 5th goal of the playoffs (9 games played), and her second goal at nationals, after also having scored the game-winner in the U SPORTS quarterfinals versus Waterloo. Unfortunately for the Gryphons, the game would not remain tied for long, as UNB re-took the lead :59 seconds after Heard's equalizer, with Avery Thurston restoring the Reds lead to make it 2-1 UNB after the opening period of play. That would prove to be all the scoring on the day, with scoreless 2nd and 3rd periods helping UNB escape with the 2-1 win and the national bronze medals. The Gryphons outshot UNB 22-to-7 over the final two periods, and 29-to-18 in the game, but were unable to find the tying goal in the closing stages. For the Ontario champion Gryphons, this marked the seventh trip to nationals in program history, with the 4th-place finish matching the program's second-best ever finish at a U SPORTS Championship. The Gryphons lone national title in program history came in 2018-19, with the team now having finished 4th at the U SPORTS Championships on three occasions (2025-26, 2015-16 & 1997-98). The bronze medal finish for the UNB Reds marked the first time in program history they reached the podium at an OUA women's hockey championship. UNB will serve as hosts of the women's hockey national championship tournament in 2027.
