Defending conference champions add four high impact recruits

VANCOUVER – The two-time defending Canada West Women's Hockey champion UBC Thunderbirds are adding four high impact players for the 2023-24 season as one of this country's premiere programs continues to push forward with even higher expectations.

Forwards Hanna Perrier and Leighanna Rizarri along with defender Jaylyn Morris will all suit up for the blue and gold this fall as will transfer forward Makenzie McCallum who heads west after spending four years with the McGill Martlets.

"We're really excited. Obviously every year it's exciting and bittersweet," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas as he enters his 12^th season with the blue and gold. "You're sad to see your seniors move on but then you're excited about our current group to get a year older, more mature and with more experience. And then, of course, also welcoming in our new players."

Hailing from Calgary and a product of the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, B.C., Hanna Perrier brings plenty of offensive upside to the T-Birds. The 5-foot-6 forward finished second on her team with 11 goals in 2022-23, adding nine assists for 20 points in 29 regular season games.

Competing with the Edge School's U18 prep program the previous season, Perrier led her team with 11 goals, finishing the year with the team's third highest point total (19) as a 16-year old.

"Hanna's got great speed, she has a great shot and works hard," Thomas said. "I definitely think she'll be a great fit with our crew. She's focussed and does well academically, she's competitive and she's going to come ready to push our older players which is exactly what you want to see."

Having represented her home province at the 2021 Western Regional Women's U-18 Championship, Perrier also played for team Alberta at the 2023 Canada Winter Games this past March.

A fellow member of those same two Team Alberta squads, Leighanna Rizzari is also UBC bound from her hometown of Calgary.

Rizzari spent the 2022-23 season at the Winchendon School in Massachusetts. The previous year, she finished fifth in team scoring with her Calgary Fire U18 AAA squad as a 16 year-old.

"Leighanna's a workhorse. She's very competitive, she gets in there and is quick and is really hard to play against. She has a good touch around the net and goes to the tough areas which I really like about her. We have a competitive forward group but like Hanna, Leighanna will push our veteran players and she has lots of potential to grow."

Rizzari is set to study Engineering starting in September.

Jaylyn Morris is a 5-foot-7 defender hailing from Maple Ridge. The local product has spent the past five seasons with the Delta Hockey Academy where she led all blueliners with 22 points (5G, 17A) in 2022-23 and added four points in three playoff games.

Morris was also a member of B.C.'s gold medal winning team at the 2023 Canada Winter Games.

"Jalyn has a lot of potential. She plays a two-way game and has a really good shot from the point. She competes hard and sees the ice well and has had a lot of success. She was part of the first B.C. team to win a Canada Winter Games gold medal which is a huge accomplishment. We believe we have the strongest if not the strongest defensive core in Canada and she'll be jumping right in there and challenge and push. It'll be really competitive on the back end which it's always been, and is great."

The two-way defender is set to study Science at Point Grey this fall.

Following a terrific four year career with McGill University, Makenzie McCallum is heading west to continue her U SPORTS career as she enters UBC's Masters in Rehabilitation Science program.

In three full seasons with the Martlets, the 5-foot-9 forward compiled 18 goals and 16 assists for 34 points in 58 regular season games.

A native of Morden, Manitoba, McCallum is no stranger to British Columbia having played her final pre-University season with Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna.

"She's been one of their top scorers the past three seasons. We wanted her here originally and it just didn't work out. But we got her here now and she's got nationals experience, she's got experience playing tough competition against Montreal and Concordia and other schools in that very tough conference. She can play on the power play, penalty kill, she's motivated and most importantly she's got two years of eligibility left so we have her for a while yet. She's going to be able to come in and complement some of our existing core group."

After completing the 2022-23 season with a new Canada West record for regular season wins before going on to capture a second straight conference banner, the T-Birds are expecting even bigger things this coming year. No doubt this crop of impressive recruits will help UBC in their quest to not only get back to a third straight U SPORTS national championship tournament, but come home with the ultimate prize.