The UBC Thunderbirds lost 5-4 to Saskatchewan Friday night, narrowly missing a chance to take a victory from Canada's second-ranked team.
UBC led on multiple occasions, but the Huskies fought back and capitalized on some untimely mistakes to take the win despite being outplayed and outshot.
Head coach Milan Dragicevic was disappointed in the performance, especially with a couple of untimely turnovers that swung the balance of the game.
“We had leads of 2-0 and 4-3,” said Dragicevic. “They're the best team in the country, you can't give them breakaways.”
Things looked promising early as the Thunderbirds scored a pair of goals just 38 seconds apart. The first started with goalie
Steven Stanford (Calgary, AB) challenging a Huskie skater chasing a loose puck, firing a long pass to
Jessi Hilton (Sherwood Park, AB). Hilton skated over the blue line and left it for
Cole Pruden (Winnipeg, MB) who fired a shot over the pad of Ryan Holfeld.
After a break in play for a broken pane of glass,
Nate Fleming (St. Albert, AB) fired home a rebound to make it 2-0.
Things took a sour turn from there, with the Huskies answering back with three goals before the end of the period, including a pair just 16 seconds apart late in the frame.
The second period would build on the physicality of the first but didn't have any scoring until late, when
Scott Wasden (West Kelowna, BC) tapped in a loose puck to tie the game. Just minutes later, the Thunderbirds' fifth power play would result in their first success, as
Max Grassi (North Vancouver, BC) found
Kevin Smith (North Vancouver, BC) streaking in from the point for the 4-3 lead.
UBC found themselves in some penalty trouble in the third, giving the Huskies a 5-on-3 opportunity midway through the period. After killing off the first of the penalties, a screened Stanford was beat by a Chris Durand point shot, tying the game.
With UBC on the power play with eight minutes to go, the Thunderbirds failed to keep the puck in the offensive zone at the blue line, and Saskatchewan's Brennan Bosch broke out on a shorthanded breakaway. Bosch beat Stanford on his glove side, giving the Huskies a 5-3 lead.
Despite strong pressure in the waning seconds with their goalie pulled, the Thunderbirds were unable to pull even.
The overtime loss drops UBC to 4-2-1 and third place in the Canada West conference. Saskatchewan improves to 6-1-0, maintaining their first place standing. The Thunderbirds will have another chance to take down the Huskies on Saturday night, as they host Saskatchewan once again at 7 p.m. at Father David Bauer Arena.
