VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds kicked off the 2010-11 hockey season in style, defeating the University of Alberta Golden Bears 4-2 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The T-Birds top line scored twice, while the fourth line kicked in a goal as well, showing the Blue and Gold's depth.
“We have two lines that have to produce for us and we have two lines that anybody would hate to play against,” said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic. “And that's how we build our hockey team – two offensive lines and two hard-nosed gritty lines, and I thought everyone contributed tonight.
Ben Schmidt had one great goal and could have had another one.”
Schmidt completed a pretty give-and-go with
Jordan Inglis when he roofed a wrist shot past Bears goalie Real Cyr to tie the game at two.
A short time later, Alberta forward Johnny Lazo had a chance to give his team a lead but T-Birds goalie
Jordan White came up with an amazing sprawling save, stopping Lazo on the doorstep and keeping the game tied.
“White was great,” said Dragicevic. “He was solid, he made the saves when he had to especially down the stretch. I thought he was a big difference factor.”
The first goal that got past White came when he made the initial save on a shot from the wing, and kicked the puck out to an unchecked Sean Ringrose, who was able to pop in a rebound to open the scoring.
The second was a blast from U of A standout Chad Klassen that rang off the inside of the post and into the back of the net.
But the 'Birds were undaunted when they were down.
Dalton Pajak scored the first UBC goal after
Max Grassi worked the puck in low. Cyr made the initial save, but Pajak put the puck over the downed Bears keeper to tie the game.
“I give our guys credit,” said Dragicevic. “We battled back. We were down 1-0, we were down 2-1, and we faced adversity. The sign of a mature hockey team is to come back and not let adversity affect you.”
The Blue and Gold also began the year off with some big hits.
Mike Liambas,
Matt Pepe, and
Craig Lineker all dealt crushing body checks through out the contest.
UBC's winning goal came off another gritty effort from their top line. Grassi and Pajak drove the puck to the slot, forcing Cyr into making a pair of saves. Then
Justin McCrae stepped in to bury the rebound with five minutes left.
From there, the Thunderbirds shut things down, eventually capping off the game with
Scott Wasden's empty netter from centre ice.
Dragicevic's mood following the win was decidedly neutral.
“We expected nothing else,” Dragicevic explained. “We have a good hockey team, we've been working hard, and we're not going to get too high. It's one game, and that's all it is. We have 27 more to go.”
The Bears and T-Birds hook up again Saturday at Father Bauer Arena. Puck drop is 7:00 p.m.
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