The University of British Columbia Athletics

EDMONTON - For the second time in 2010-11, the UBC Thunderbirds defeated the no. 1 ranked Alberta Golden Bears with a stingy defensive effort that ended in a 3-2 shootout win.

Freshman forward Bryce Lamb and fourth-year defender Craig Lineker scored for the visitors before former NCAA Wayne State Warrior Tyler Ruel notched the game-deciding goal in the shootout.

Rookie Alex Rodgers potted a pair of goals in a losing cause for Alberta while Canada West leading scorer Chad Klassen added two assists.

The Saskatoon native got his first helper right off the hop when a 3-on-2 rush towards the UBC net had Klassen feeding the puck into a melee of skates and sticks before it found its way to Rodgers' blade for a tap-in goal into an empty cage only 1:05 into the opening frame.

UBC answered back just over four minutes later, however, when Lamb took a Marc Desloges pass in front of the Alberta net and slid it five-hole for his third goal of the season.

Rearguard Ian Barteaux tried to reclaim the Alberta lead with 8:31 left to go in the first period, but instead his slapshot from the point met the UBC crossbar, heading straight down to the goal line before T-Bird netminder Jordan White pounced on it.

White, the conference leader in minutes played, faced a small amount of shots in the first period as the UBC defence held the home team to a noticeably low number and the Thunderbirds held a 13-5 shot advantage after twenty minutes.

Yet the Bears did hold a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission, when Klassen feathered a pass into the UBC slot where Rodgers sifted the puck to the far corner for his second tally with only 42 seconds left on the clock.

As the Thunderbird defence stymied the Alberta offence throughout the rest of the game, UBC seized their opportunity midway through the third when Lineker's top-shelf slapshot from the halfboards on the power-play knotted the score at two.

Alberta's Sean Ringrose shot first in the shootout, but his stutter-step move did not fool White, closing up the five-hole to give UBC the advantage.

Ruel then tallied with a wristshot high to the glove side of Alberta goaltender Réal Cyr.

Klassen's slapshot from the hashmarks caught a piece of White's glove to vault over the net before UBC's Brandon Campos succeeded on a backhand deke to put a quick end to the shootout round.

The Thunderbirds stay on the road to tangle with the Calgary Dinos next weekend.

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