VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds capitalized on a night of power play opportunities, shutting out the visiting Regina Cougars 4-0 at Doug Mitchell Arena. T-Birds scoring leader
Max Grassi led the way with a goal and an assist, while goaltender
Jordan White earned a shutout in the win, which saw UBC awarded ten power plays.
Supporting the outstanding play of White and Grassi were a host of T-Birds, including defenseman Ryan Kakoske, whose point shot on the power play beat a screened Lucas Gore to open the scoring. Matt Wray tipped home his first of the year, redirecting a hard pass from Grassi on the power play. Then in the final two minutes, both Grassi and Marc Desloges popped in goals from in close to put the Cougars on ice.
The Cougars struggled to find their game thanks to a long string of penalties in the second and third periods. Regina also lost their leading scorer, Matt Strueby, early in the game following a painful collision with UBC's Grassi.
UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic was pleased with his team's ability to keep the Cougars off the scoreboard, earning the squad a measure of redemption after allowing two goals in the final minutes on Friday.
“We kept them to three shots in the third period,” said Dragicevic. “We did a good job defensively, blocking shots from the point. We did a good job coming back to the house, picking up sticks, and not allowing second or third shots. We got two power play goals and played hard for 60 minutes. We didn't give them much, and White played great.”
Jordan Inglis continued his point-scoring streak with an assist on the game's final goal, while Max Grassi climbed to fourth place among top scorers in Canada West with two points. Dragicevic is pleased with the production he's getting throughout the line up.
“We have to score by committee,” says Dragicevic. “Our most skilled players have to be our best players every night. Desloges, Grassi, and Wasden, those guys. We rely on those guys so much to provide offense. When other guys jump in – Juneau has been playing really well, Pruden has been playing really well, Kakoske scored tonight – when we can get secondary scoring, we're a very good hockey team.”
The Thunderbirds have won four in a row playing the sixth and seventh place teams in Canada West. The schedule gets tougher from here on out, with four of the next five weekends taking place versus Canada West's top three teams.
“We've scored 20 goals in the last four games. We're confident scoring goals, but we know these last ten games are going to be tough,” said Dragicevic. “Every game for us is a playoff game. Our players know exactly what the goal is for our hockey team – to finish in the top four.”
The win leaves UBC one point behind the Calgary Dinos, who host the T-Birds for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday. These are critical meetings that will go a long way to determining who hosts a first round playoff series in Canada West.
The Cougars have next weekend off before heading into Calgary themselves. Regina needs to find a way out of the Canada West basement soon if they hope to see the post-season.
