VANCOUVER – Levko Koper scored a hat trick to lead his fourth-ranked Alberta Golden Bears men's hockey team to a 5-2 victory over the No. 9 UBC Thunderbirds at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver on Friday night.

Reigning WHL Graduate of the Month Anthony Bardaro (Delta, B.C.), and Austin Vetterl (Surrey, B.C.) scored the Thunderbirds goals, while Dylan Bredo and Riley Kieser also tallied for Alberta.
 
"I thought in the second period, we were quite good to be honest," said UBC head coach Adam Shell. "Not a ton went wrong. In the first period we gave them scoring chances. They are two-time defending national champions, when you give them an opening, they score."

The 'Birds were stymied in the first period by a fast, technical Alberta team. The Golden Bears scored their first goal after a quick pass across the crease was slotted in by defenceman Dylan Bredo within the first three minutes of the first period.

Koper scored midway through the opening period to put the Golden Bears up 2-0, going stick side on UBC goaltender Matt Hewitt (New Westminster, B.C.) on a one-time shot.

Bardaro got UBC on the scoreboard with a goal at 3:41 of the second period. From the high slot, Vetterl let a shot go that hit Alberta goalie Luke Siemens in the mask. The puck bounced right back out in front of the net for Bardaro, who tapped in the rebound – his seventh goal of the year – to get his team back in the game.

Koper got what turned out to be the game winner at 14:52. He broke in on the left wing after a bad UBC line change and fired a shot from between the faceoff dot and the hash marks towards Hewitt. Koper went five-hole but Hewitt didn't get enough of the puck as it trickled over the goal line behind him to make it 3-1.

Kieser got some insurance for Alberta on what was essentially a shorthanded goal at 14:22 of the third period.. A second after Koper's high-sticking penalty expired, Stephane Legault found Kieser wide open in the slot, and Kieser went glove side on Hewitt, who had no chance on the shot.

UBC got to within two goals when Vetterl scored his fifth goal of the year at 17:35. Standing just in front of the goal, he knocked down a point shot from Kyle Becker (Langley, B.C.), corralled the loose puck and then fired a shot over Siemens's glove but it was too little too late.

Koper completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal to secure the win, which improved Alberta's record to 9-3-1. UBC fell to 7-3-3.

"The sun's going to come up tomorrow, I'm fairly certain," Shell said about his team's 1-3-1 record over the last five games. "You're plan's only a day away from working. We're not in a run that we'd like."
 
He is still confident his team can come back and win Saturday.

"We lost the first night last weekend, but we came back and won."

The Golden Bears outshot the Thunderbirds 38-17. Luke Siemens stopped 15 shots for the win, while Hewitt had 33 saves in a valiant effort for UBC.

The two sides will face off again tomorrow night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.