VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds continued their season-long trend of earning splits with Saturday night victories, as the home team toppled the Calgary Dinos 5-3 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, ending the visitors' five-game winning streak.
Wyatt Hamilton led the T-Birds with two goals, including a power play marker from the top of the face-off circle to tie the game at two in the second period.
Dustin Kimber,
Max Grassi, and
Nate Fleming each had goals for the Thunderbirds as well.
The Dinos established an early lead thanks to a go-ahead goal from Blake Clement in the first period, but squandered that lead as the game progressed. Walker Wintoneak and Dylan Hood also found the back of the net in the Dinos' losing effort.
Both teams scored on their first shots of the game with Fleming's knuckleball fooling Butler to get things started for UBC. Calgary answered back with one of their own as Wintoneak's long range shot trickled through Stanford's legs.
It was a strange night of netminding as all four goaltenders saw action in the game. Calgary's Dustin Butler and UBC's
Steven Stanford started the night, with Kris Lazaruk playing the final frame for the Dinos, and
Jordan White earning the victory with 40 minutes of play for UBC.
For the T-Birds head coach Milan Dragicevic, the victory is a relief. With the Canada West standings already tight, the two points are crucial in what has traditionally been the most competitive conference in the CIS.
“We stressed desperate hockey today,” said Dragicevic. “We stressed effort and we stressed that this is a playoff game for us. We have to treat it like it is.
“I thought the guys responded really well,” continued Dragicevic. “Even when we were down 2-1, we stuck with it and kept working and kept working. The biggest thing was that we had second efforts tonight. We blocked a lot of shots. You know how we talk about scoring by committee? Well, every line scored a goal tonight. That was a big difference.”
But despite the pleasing result, Dragicevic is still scratching his head at his club's Jekyll and Hyde routine. The team is winless on Fridays and perfect on Saturdays through all four weekends of the year so far. The T-Birds also improved as the game went on, while they seemed to languish in the third period the night before.
“We're trying to figure out why this happens,” said Dragicevic. “I don't know if our team needs a wake up call every Friday. Maybe we should just forfeit Friday games. We're 4-0 on Saturdays. I can't explain it because the preparation is the same. When you play average on Friday, you have something to play for on Saturday. Maybe that's what it is.”
UBC put in a gutsy effort to come from behind with
Dustin Kimber getting past the Dino defence to tuck away a feed from
Jordan Inglis and permanently reestablish the T-Bird lead.
The team's desperate play and constant pressure paid off with a final nail in the coffin as veteran T-Bird
Max Grassi capitalized on a weird bounce off the boards to make it 5-2 late in the game.
Dylan Hood's last minute power play goal from the side of the UBC net got Calgary a little closer, but it was too late to close the gap.
The game ended with a series of scrums and misconducts as the two teams said their bitter farewells.
The win leaves the Thunderbirds tied for fourth with Manitoba in the conference, while Calgary sits tied with Alberta in second place. Up next, both teams hit the road. Calgary heads to Regina to take on the Huskies, while UBC faces Alberta in Edmonton.
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