VANCOUVER – A hat trick from Blair MacAulay was the difference as the No. 8 Manitoba Bisons beat the UBC Thunderbirds 4-2 in Canada West men's hockey action at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on Saturday night.
“They got some puck bounces because they kept putting the puck to the net and we didn't capitalize once again in front of their net,” said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic. “We had some good opportunities and on the positive side, we scored two power play goals.”
Manitoba's other goal came from Brendan Rowinski, while
Jason Yee and
Max Grassi scored for UBC.
MacAulay scored the Bisons' second, third and fourth goals.
His first of the night at 13:37 of the first period came with his team already up 1-0 on a marker by Rowinski at 7:10.
It was spectacular as MacAulay, skating down the right side, batted a high, diagonal flip pass from Jared Walker past UBC goalie
Jordan White, who ended the night with 35 saves.
MacAulay's second goal, the game-winner, was unassisted as he grabbed a loose puck and put it past White at 12:30 of the second period.
Three and a half minutes later, UBC finally got on the scoreboard as
Jason Yee's left point shot found its way past Manitoba goalie Jesse Deckert. It was Yee's first goal of the year.
MacAulay added his hat trick tally at 13:34 of the third before Grassi scored a late power play goal as he shot a loose from in front of the net into the Manitoba goal. It was his fifth of the season.
“
Jordan White, I thought, played very well tonight and he gave us that opportunity to win,” said Dragicevic. “We didn't capitalize in front of their net and that was a big difference. We made some glaring mistakes on the ice and that led to a couple of goals against.”
UBC drops to 5-5-2 and will travel to Saskatchewan next weekend, while the Bisons improve to 7-3-2. They will host Calgary next weekend.
