VANCOUVER – The UBC men's hockey team (1-5) started strong but allowed seven straight goals against as the visiting Alberta Golden Bears (2-2) handed the Thunderbirds a 9-4 loss Saturday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
 
The T-Birds had a 3-1 lead midway through the first period but Tyson Baillie's second goal of the frame cut the lead to one.
 
The goal kick-started Alberta's offence, which scored seven straight times handing UBC their first loss on home ice this season. Jamie Crooks also scored twice. He and Baillie finished with three points on the day.

"We got away from playing a simple, straight-forward game," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon. "You have to respect your opponent, you can't beat guys on-on-one, it has to be a complete team effort which is what we did yesterday. Tonight we got too fancy and impatient and our compete wasn't there."



After tying the game just 39 seconds into the second period, Alberta continued to press on offence scoring two more times in the frame taking a 5-3 lead into the third where they added four more to earn the weekend series split.
 
Special teams were a big factor for the Bears who scored three power-play goals on four chances while the T-Birds failed to execute on four opportunities of their own.
 
The Bears out shot UBC 39-24.
 
Chase Clayton picked up where he left off Friday night with two goals on Saturday as he opened scoring just 1:10 into the first period with Jerret Smith and Michael Stenerson picking up the assists.



The Bears tied it less than a minute later with Baillie's first of the game but Austin Vetterl's second of the season restored UBC's lead at the 3:40 mark.
 
All four goaltenders dressed saw action as Alberta pulled starter Kenny Cameron after Clayton scored his second short-handed goal in as many games, 10:27 into the first period, UBC's third goal on six shots.
 
Brendan Burke was strong in relief making 17 saves on 18 shots while Derek Dun replaced Matt Hewitt in net in the third period making seven saves on eight shots the rest of the way.
 
Anthony Bardaro was the only Thunderbird to get one past Burke Saturday as the fourth-year forward scored his second of the season at the 11:04 mark of the third, his third point of the weekend.



"It's a bit of a monkey off the back," said Bardaro who agreed with his head coach the overall effort wasn't what it needed to be.
 
"We needed to play a much simpler game, we tried to make things a little too complicated, a little too fancy and things just got worse from there. We just have to stick to our game plan here and the harder we work the more we'll get rewarded."
 
The T-Birds will look to rebound back on the road next weekend visiting the Manitoba Bisons Friday and Saturday. Puck drop is 5 p.m. PT. Alberta will host Mt. Royal next weekend.