VANCOUVER – The No. 10 UBC Thunderbirds racked up another "W" Friday night with a 3-1 victory over the Regina Cougars in Canada West men's hockey action at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
 
Regina took the lead on Sanfred King's first-period goal before Nick Buonassisi (Coquitlam, B.C.), Anthony Bardaro (Delta, B.C.) and Brandon Underwood (Carlsbad, Calif.) provided UBC with the three unanswered goals that completed the come-from-behind victory.
 
King lit the lamp for the visitors at 17:13 of the opening period. Forward Troy Hunter created a turnover on the right boards and as squirted loose towards the net, he fired a pass into the high slot for King, who one-timed a slap shot through the five-hole of UBC goaltender Matt Hewitt (New Westminster, B.C.).
 
This came just a few minutes after the Cougars got some spark at the other end, as goalie Dawson MacAuley slid to his right to stop a Neil Manning (Nanaimo, B.C.) one-timer from point-blank range.
 
Bardaro was instrumental in UBC's win, recording two points – a goal and an assist – on Friday night to become the leading scorer in the Canada West. He's a point ahead of both Saskatchewan's rookie sensation Andrew Johnson and Mt. Royal veteran Tyler Fiddler.
 
Yet, according to Bardaro, the success he's enjoying is hardly his alone.
 
"Things are going really well for me right now but that's because our team is doing alright so it has a lot to do with the team's success and with that comes individual success."
 
"I play a lot of minutes," said Bardaro following Friday's win. "I'm putting those opportunities where we need to score goals and right now it's going in but we've got 20 plus guys on this team that could all be putting the puck in the net, so right now it's my turn but I'm sure everyone else will start putting them in as well."
 
Bardaro set up UBC's first goal of the night at 4:51 of the second period. He actually stopped a Regina scoring opportunity in front of his own empty after a weird hop sent the puck into the crease. On the same sequence, took a clearance at centre to create a 2-on-1.
 
He and Buonassisi flew past the Cougars' blueline, facing a lone defenceman. Bardaro baited the Regina D and when he advanced to poke the puck away, Bardaro passed to Buonassisi who ripped it past McCauley for his first goal of the season, which tied the game 1-1.
 
Bardaro then scored himself just over six minutes later at 11:18. He received a pass from Manning at the point and one-timed a shot from the left boards to beat McCauley stick side for a power-play goal. It was his fifth goal of the young season.
 
With less than a minute left in the game, and MacAuley pulled from the Regina net, a loose puck popped out from a tussle in the corner to Hewitt's left. With just enough time under the Cougars' 6-on-5 pressure, UBC's Underwood shot the puck down ice for the empty-net goal, his first tally of the season, which guaranteed UBC's fifth win of the campaign.
 
MacAuley stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced while Hewitt was less busy on the night, making 16 saves for the win, which improved his record to 3-0-1.
 
The teams will finish off their weekend doubleheader with a 7 p.m. PT game on Saturday.