VANCOUVER - The last-place Regina Cougars certainly didn't look like a last-place team on Friday night when they beat the UBC Thunderbirds 6-2 at the Father Bauer Arena in their first conference action of the new year.
The T-Birds out shot the Cougars 41-26 but struggled to get anything past Cougars goalie Adam Ward, who made several big saves to keep his side on top despite UBC having more scoring chances.
"It doesn't matter if you get 50 shots or 60 shots," said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic. "If you don't score you are not going to win hockey games."
The Cougars didn't even a register their first shot until seven minutes into the first period, but shortly after the halfway point they took the lead. Dillon Johnstone hit Craig Cuthbert in stride with a pass across the slot from the right wing, and Cuthbert one-timed it home to put Regina up 1-0.
The T-Birds kept the pressure on throughout the opening frame and it seemed like only a matter of time before they would draw even, but instead the Cougars doubled their lead just before the first intermission. Mark Nelson received Caine Pearpoint's pass right in front of the net and made a nice move to get Thuot down on the ice before sliding the puck in.
Jordan Inglis answered for UBC early in the second period with a rocket of a wrist shot from just inside the blueline, but Regina took over from there. Jared Jason made it 3-1 less than a minute after the Inglis goal, and Devon LeBlanc chased UBC goalie
Francois Thuot from the game when he beat him with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle late in the second.
The Cougars added two more goals early in the third, courtesy of Cuthbert and Pearpoint, before
Max Grassi pulled one back for UBC at 12:44 of the final frame.
"We gave them too many clear shots and they are a very good opportunistic team," said Dragicevic. "They play defence and wait for a mistake and we made too many mistakes today and they capitalized. Six goals against is too many. You can't win hockey games like that."
UBC falls to 5-11-1 with the loss, and they are nine points back of the fourth-place Saskatchewan Huskies, who currently hold the final playoff spot.
"We know what's at stake. We knew we had to win nine out of 12 games (to make the playoffs) and now we have to win nine out of 11," said Dragicevic. "The pressure is high and we didn't respond well tonight."
The Cougars improve to 5-10-0 and are just one point behind the T-Birds.
The two sides will go at it again on Saturday again at Father Bauer Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
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