Vancouver – In a tightly battled affair, the Regina Cougars blanked the UBC Thunderbirds 1-0 Saturday night, splitting the weekend series, as Andrew Hayes collected the shutout. Regina's Troy Hunter scored the game's lone goal early in the third period as the Cougars improve to 3-3-0 on the season, while the Thunderbirds wall to 1-3-0.
Special teams were the difference Saturday night as UBC was blanked on its six power play opportunities. Regina didn't fare much better as the Cougars were unable to covert on five of the team's power plays.
Whereas last night the Thunderbirds got off to a slow start trailing the Cougars by three after the first period, tonight UBC applied pressure right from puck-drop outshooting Regina 13-8.
First-year goaltender
Matt Hewitt, who got the nod for the 'Birds this evening, made a number of key saves in the second period including a breakaway save at the five minute mark and a sprawling save just before the period ended to keep the game scoreless. Hewitt made his first career CIS start this evening after collecting the victory last night in relief.
The Cougars broke the deadlock early into the third period as Hunter put away his second of the season sneaking a backhand past Hewitt, which ended up being the difference.
Hewitt finished with 27 saves on 28 shots for UBC as the Thunderbirds fall to 1-3-0 on the season. Despite the loss, Hewitt was rock solid in net making a number of timely saves, reiterated by Coach Dragicevic.
"Hewitt was really good, he gave us the opportunity to win and giving up one goal is certainly a positive and on the other end we're a team that's built to skate and score and produce offense, but we didn't do that."
The team that produced five goals last night in a thrilling comeback victory was absent tonight as the team failed to produce offensively being shutout for the first time this season.
"Our power play didn't shoot, it didn't generate, especially in the second period. It's one of those things that can cost you a game and tonight it did because we couldn't execute."
A typically gritty Thunderbirds squad put a number of shots on net but never produced any quality scoring chances and struggled after the first period to put traffic in front of the Regina net.
Hewitt's counterpart Andrew Hayes finished the game with 30 saves collecting his second shutout of the season as the Cougars improve to 3-3-0.
The Thunderbirds will be in tough next weekend as the team embarks on a two game road trip to face off against the No. 1 ranked Alberta Golden Bears.
"Next weekend we face top ranked Alberta who are undefeated and that's no easy task. We have to be better by taking advantage on the power play but that's part of the learning process."
Game one is set for Friday at 6 p.m. while game two goes off Saturday at 5 p.m. where UBC looks to hand the Golden Bears its first loss of the season.
