LETHBRIDGE – The UBC Thunderbirds pushed the finale of their weekend series versus the Lethbridge Pronghorns to overtime but came up short falling 3-2 in the extra session Saturday night Nicholas Sheran Arena.
After Lethbridge goalie Scott Bowles made miraculous diving save to extend the overtime, freshman Dan Iwanski took a pass from Andrew Courtney, who had intercepted a Thunderbird clearing attempt. Iwanski snapped a shot off the Bar and in to give the Horns the victory with only 4.3-seconds remaining.
With the win the Horns move within one point of the Saskatchewan Huskies and Calgary Dinos for third in the Conference at 6-5-3. The T-Birds (5-6-3) do earn a much valuable point and are only one point behind the Horns.
Before the ice even had time to fully dry, the T-Bords found themselves trailing 1-0 surrendering a goal just 45 seconds into the first frame. Pronghorn forward Nick Hotson converted his own rebound to give the home side the early lead.
The play remained heavy in the Horns favour for the vast majority of the period, out shooting UBC 13-7 but they were unable to get another one past T-Birds goaltender
Jordan White.
With the period winding down, UBC created a turnover behind the Horns net and
Justin McCrae found Brett Sonne all alone in the slot and he made no mistake beating Bowles glove side with only two seconds remaining to tie the period.
Late in the second period, the T-Birds would strike again to take their first lead of the weekend while on a power play. After failing to produce on an extended two-man advantage UBC potted the go-ahead goal on their fourth power play of the period.
Bryce Lamb redirected a puck past a screened Bowles. Shots in the middle stanza favoured the Thunderbirds, 9-8.
The Horns anemic power play finally produced to tie the score at two. Heading into the weekend the Horns had the worst power play in the conference and had gone 0 for 10 heading into a short 5-on-3 advantage. Courtney picked up an Andrew Marshall rebound and deposited it into the open corner to bring the Horns even.
White was solid between the pipes for the T-Birds making 39 saves while his counterpart Bowles was solid again for the Horns made 25 saves.
The conference now enters the semester break and returns to action January 7th and 8th with the Horns playing in a home-and-home with the Calgary Dinos starting in Calgary. Meanwhile the Thunderbirds opens the New Year, traveling to Edmonton to face the top ranked Alberta Golden Bears.
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