Edmonton, AB - The number one team in the nation proved their worth Saturday night as the UBC Thunderbirds could not slow down the Alberta Golden Bears, falling 6-2 at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton. With the victory, Alberta swept the weekend series, picking up their 10th straight win.
BOX SCORE
Down just 2-1 going in the third period, the Thunderbirds gave up three goals in a span of 2:42 early in the period, including two on the power play, as the Golden Bears blew the game wide open on route to the 6-2 victory.
After a heartbreaking 2-0 loss on Friday night, the Thunderbirds got the start they wanted, opening the scoring 3:07 into the game as Cole WIlson (White Rock, BC) scored his seventh goal of the season unassisted. However, the Golden Bears peppered
Jordan White (Surrey, BC) all period long and eventually would find away to beat him. Ian Barteaux notched his third goal of the season with three minutes remaining in the frame to tie the game at 1-1 through 20 minutes. Shots in the first period were 20-7 in favour of Alberta.
The Golden Bears took their first lead of the night 12:01 into the second period as former Prince George Cougar James Dobrowolski potted his sixth goal of the season past White. The 'Birds were unable to generate any offense, managing just three shots on Real Cyr, the reigning CIS Goaltender of the Year. 2-1 is how things would stand after two periods of play.
Less then a minute into the third period, the Thunderbirds got into penalty trouble and the Golden Bears would make them pay. Friday night's hero, Ben Lindemulder scored on the power play 1:39 into the frame to extend Alberta's lead to two goals. 36 seconds later, Golden Bears captain Greg Gardner tipped a Jesse Craige shot by White to give the Bears a 4-1 lead. They weren't done there, 2:06 later Colin Joe scored his first goal of the season on the man advantage to put Alberta in front 5-1. That would spell the end of the night for
Jordan White. He stopped 29 of 34 shots he faced. Over the two nights he faced 70 shots from the Golden Bears. He was replaced by
Steven Stanford (Calgary, AB). However, not much changed as Johnny Lazo gave the Bears a five goal advantage, scoring his seventh goal of the season. Things got a little chippy late, resulting in the Golden Bears having a pair of players in the penalty box.
Brad Hoban (Victoria, BC) scored his fifth of the season on the power play for UBC's second goal of the night. That is as close as the Thunderbirds would come, 6-2 was the final.
With the victory, the Golden Bears remain in top spot in the Canada West with a record of 13-3-0 and 26 points. UBC (8-5-1) falls to fourth in the conference with 17 points, one point back of third place Manitoba and five points back of second place Saskatchewan. Both the Huskies and Bisons swept their weekend series.
Final shots were 45-19 in favour of the Golden Bears.
Steven Stanford made 10 saves in relief. Real Cyr earned the victory in net for Alberta stopping 17 of the 19 shots he faced.
UBC went 1-for-6 on the power play, while Alberta finished 2-for-5.
Johnny Lazo led all scorers with one goal and two assists. He leads the league in scoring with 22 points in 16 games this season.
UBC now returns home for their final weekend series before the Christmas break. They will play host to the Regina Cougars Friday November 30 and Saturday December 1 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Puck drop is 7:00 pm both nights. Back on the opening weekend of the season in Regina, UBC picked up three of a possible four points against the Cougars. Regina currently sits in sixth place in the conference, just three points behind the Thunderbirds.
