VANCOUVER – A night after a riveting double-overtime victory against the No. 1 Calgary Dinos, the UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team followed up with a tough 3-1 loss on Saturday evening. A two-goal second period by the Dinos, with Cory Pritz and Giffen Nyren scoring, proved to be the difference as UBC split its weekend series. Luke Lockhart was the lone UBC scorer while Colton Grant added an empty netter late in the third to ice the game in favour of the Dinos.
 
Entering the night, UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic emphasized the need to get off to a better start, and the T-Birds thought they had done just that but incidental contact to Dinos goaltender Jacob DeSerres lead to an apparent goal being called back after a referee's deliberation.

Neither goaltender was particularly tested in the opening frame, as both teams put up 12 shots combined, 10 to 6 in favour of UBC, but thanks to a pair of shots that rang off the iron in the Thunderbirds zone, the game remained scoreless through one period of play.
 
Three consecutive power plays to start the second period, including one that carried over from the opening frame, was not enough to spark the Thunderbirds offence as the home team managed just three shots during that span. The action continued between the whistles leading to a scrappy second period as the two teams have their fair share of history as Canada West rivals.
 


Shortly thereafter, the Thunderbirds fell victim to flat footedness, as Calgary would pepper Stanford with shots following the three UBC power plays with Pritz eventually potting the game's first goal with seven minutes remaining in the second.  The fifth-year Dinos defender pinched in from the slot and wired a wrist shot past Stanford who managed to get a piece of it but couldn't stop it from trickling in.
 
Five minutes later, Nyren would fire a point shot that would find its way through traffic and past Stanford to put the 'Birds into a two-goal deficit, the same scenario UBC found themselves in after the first period of yesterday's affair.
 
Tasked with a two-goal comeback, the Thunderbirds entered the final frame looking to gain some ground early in the third. UBC did just that, as not even a minute into the final frame Lockhart put home his ninth of the season after Geordie Wudrick found the forward open in front of the net. Cole Wilson added to his team-leading points total with an assist on the play, giving him 26 on the season as the Thunderbirds cut the deficit to one. A late power play gave the Thunderbirds a chance to tie it late but to no avail, as Grant added an empty netter, his first goal of the year, for the Dinos to secure the victory. 
 
Calgary adds to their win column to remain atop the Canada West with a record of 20-0-2. UBC falls to 8-13-1, which puts the team in seventh in the Canada West with 17 points. Both teams went scoreless on the man-advantage Saturday evening with UBC failing to convert on its five power play opportunities.
 
"We lost the game because of our power play," noted Dragicevic. "We didn't execute. The power play can win you the game and the penalty kill can help you stay in the game. Prior to the weekend our power play was third in the league, that disappoints me the most, the effort was there but the execution wasn't."
 
Despite the lacklustre performance on the power play tonight, Dragicevic and his team can take a lot of positives from its home stand against the country's top university team.
 
"We pushed them to the limit on both nights," he said. "Stanford was great and we kept them to the outside limiting them in shots and oppurtunites."
 
Entering Saturday's contest, Stanford was the victor in five of his past six regular season starts dating back to the end of November. Despite Calgary averaging over five goals a game this season, Stanford limited the Dinos to just four goals over the two game weekend series including a 20-save performance on Saturday.
 
The Thunderbirds are on the road next weekend for a pivotal matchup against the Mount Royal Cougars who are coming off a weekend split against the No. 2 Alberta Golden Bears. The Cougars sit two points clear of UBC for the final Canada West playoff spot with six games remaining on the schedule.