Vancouver, BC - The UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team snapped its four game losing streak, defeating the Lethbridge Pronghorns 7-4 to earn their second victory of the season Saturday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Joe Antilla led the way with his first career CIS hat trick.
Tied 3-3 heading into the final period, Antilla scored his second goal of the night 1:36 into the third on a great set up from Anthony Bardaro to put the 'Birds in front 4-3. After Matt Hewitt made his best save of the night, scrambling to steal a goal away from Cass Mappin, Luke Lockhart potted his second goal of the season with just over five minutes left to give UBC a 5-3. The goal would prove to be the game winner.
Antilla completed the hat trick a man down, beating Damien Ketlo five hole. Lethbridge would score a power play goal in the final minute with six attackers on the house and then Lockhart would add an empty netter to round out the scoring. 7-4 was the final.
"This was a huge win, just for our mindset alone," said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic. "We have a good hockey team, everyone knows it, we are just fighting through some things right now and to get two points and score seven goals was big for us."
An impressive performance for Antilla who had just one goal in 27 regular season games last year. This weekend he was bumped up to the top line and rewarded his coach for the confidence.
"Joe had the best week of practice last week and earned his spot to play with Bardaro and Cole Wilson and he produced for us and I give him all the credit," said Dragicevic.
UBC opened the scoring 4:29 into the first period as Scott MacDonald banged in a rebound off a Kevin Smith point shot to put UBC in front 1-0. Mike Forsyth tied it up for Lethbridge beating Hewitt on a one timer off the draw just past the midway point of the period. 1-1 is how things stood through 20 minutes of play.
After not much action in the first 13 minutes of the second period, the two teams combined for four goals in 2:09 late in the frame. Ryon Moser put Lethbridge in front 2-1, but Antilla countered with his first goal of the night 28 seconds later. 54 seconds after that, the Pronghorns took back the lead courtesy of Cass Mappin. However, once again the Thunderbirds had an answer, this time it was Brad Hoban scoring his third goal of the season on the power play. 3-3 was the score through two periods of play.
"Today everybody contributed," said Dragicevic. "We need all four lines going. It makes a big difference when everybody buys in, doing the little things like blocking shots and in the end they are rewarded with a win."
Hewitt picked up his second win of the season stopping 29 of the 33 shots he faced.
Ben Schmidt, Cole Wilson, and Jessi Hilton all finished with two helpers on the night.
UBC improves to 2-5-1 on the season while Lethbridge falls to 1-7-0
The Thunderbirds will remain at home next weekend as they play host to the Mount Royal Cougars for a weekend series beginning Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
