Calgary, AB - The UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey lives to play another day as they defeated the Calgary Dinos 4-2 Saturday night in game 2 of the Canada West quarterfinal to extend the series to a third and deciding game.
Trailing 1-0 after 20 minutes, UBC scored three goals on five shots in the second period to take a 3-2 lead through 40 minutes. They would never look back.
Cole Wilson (White Rock, BC),
Cole Pruden (Winnipeg, MB), and
Brad Hoban (Victoria, BC) all scored their first goals of the playoffs in the second period to give UBC their first lead of the series. They would score one more in the third period to win 4-2.
"We played desperate hockey tonight," said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic. "We stuck to our systems, blocked shots, and got a number of key saves from
Jordan White. It didn't hurt that we scored key goals at the right time of the game."
Walker Wintoneak opened the scoring in the first period just 3:28 into the first period. That would stand as the only goal of the opening period. Shots were 8-8.
In the second period, the league's leading goal scorer
Cole Wilson wired home a shot past Jacob DeSerres to tie the game at 1-1. Just over thee minutes later
Cole Pruden went five hole on DeSerres to give UBC their first lead of the game 2-1. After Max Ross tied it up at 2-2,
Brad Hoban banged in a rebound off a
Scott Wasden (West Kelowna, BC) shot to put the Thunderbirds in front 3-2 after two periods of play.
Calgary poured it on in the third period, firing 12 shots at
Jordan White, but could not beat him.
Jessi Hilton (Sherwood Park, AB) added an insurance marker with 4:57 left in regulation to seal the deal for UBC, earning them a 4-2 victory.
Final shots were 29-18 for Calgary. UBC went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Calgary finished 0-for-3.
Game 3 will be played tomorrow night at 6:00 pm PST in Calgary at Father David Bauer Arena. The winner will move on to the Canada West semi-finals to face Alberta.
