Vancouver, BC - Despite two thrilling goals in the final period, the UBC men's hockey team were unable to overcome the University of Alberta, who jumped out to a 4-1 lead and held on to defeat UBC 4-3 Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
The win marks Alberta's third victory over UBC this season, as they improve to 17-2 in conference play, while UBC falls to 7-11-1.
The Golden Bears saw their first scoring opportunity at 5:43 as they picked off a Thunderbird attempt to clear the puck. Alberta's James Dobrowolski took advantage, beating
Steven Stanford to mark Alberta's first of the night.
From the initial puck drop, the Golden Bears remained aggressive on both ends of the ice. Whereas UBC struggled to find their way. However, despite an opening 20 minutes controlled by the opposition, the Thunderbirds were fortunate to be down just 1-0 despite being outshot 16-9.
Three and a half minutes into the second period, Alberta forward Torrie Dyck extended the visitors lead to 2-0 as his shot evaded Stanford. UBC responded to the Alberta onslaught half way through the period, when persistence in front of the net proved fruitful as
Michael Wilgosh scored his first goal of the season, capitalizing on an assist from
Neil Manning to cut Alberta's lead to 2-1.
The Golden Bears though would answer shortly after when Johnny Lazo and Sean Ringrose assisted on Ben Lindemulder 's tally with 4:31 remaining in the frame to give Alberta a 3-1 lead. The Golden Bears were not done, they would add one more before the period was out courtesy of Jamie Crooks on the power play just 24 seconds left in the second period to give Alberta a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
UBC's
Kevin Smith tallied the second Thunderbirds goal of the night at 5:42 into the third period to get UBC back within a pair of goals.
The crowd rose to their feet with just under five minutes remaining when
Anthony Bardaro scored a highlight reel goal to bring the Thunderbirds to within one.
Despite UBC's best efforts to carry their overwhelming momentum through the rest of the period, the 'Birds were unable to penetrate Alberta's defense one more time and the Golden Bears would hold on for the 4-3 victory.
Alberta's Kurtis Mucha stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced, while UBC's Stanford made 38 saves in a losing cause.
The 'Birds will seek vengeance tomorrow night during the second contest of the weekend at 7:00 pm at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
