WINNIPEG, MB – A trio of second period goals against was the difference for the UBC Thunderbirds (1-6) who fell 3-2 to the Manitoba Bisons (3-2) Friday night in Winnipeg.
The T-Birds battled back in the third and with
Matt Hewitt on the bench for the extra attacker,
Luke Lockhart scored his second of the season making it a one-goal game with just 13 seconds left. But UBC was unable to complete the comeback falling to 1-6 on the season.
"We were there, we hit the post, we hit a crossbar," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon. "We were close but when you're 1-6 you have to play desperate until the last buzzer, you can't leave anything to chance."
The fast-paced, physical first period saw the teams take a combined six penalties, starting with a collision at the blue line that sent Manitoba's Nick Zajac and UBC's
Jake LeBrun to the box for charging and hooking, respectively, at 7:55.
The Thunderbirds killed another hooking minor before Zajac took two minutes for interference at 15:45. Manitoba kept the game scoreless through a tense penalty kill, but the UBC power play got the best of the home side minutes later.
Bison forward Jonah Wasylak took a two-minute minor for a hit to the head and a 10-minute misconduct at 17:48. UBC's
Anthony Bardaro scored his third of the season at 18:41, assisted by Lockhart and
Joe Antilla, to make it a 1-0 game.
But the Bisons fired back, scoring twice in the opening minutes of the second. Manitoba captain Jordan DePape netted his second of the year, assisted by Brad Bowles and Shawn Bowles, at 0:38. Justin Augert, the Bisons' leading scorer, gave the home side a 2-1 lead at 1:34. Remi Laurencelle and Shaq Merasty assisted on the goal.
"For whatever reason we took our foot off the gas and left the door open a bit and they got a couple lucky goals," said Butenschon.
The Bisons killed off a Brad Bowles double minor for spearing before forward Joel Schreyer and Bardaro took slashing and roughing minors, respectively, following a scrap in front of the Manitoba net at 17:24.
While neither team scored on the four-on-four, the Bisons added to their lead in the final seconds of the period. Thunderbirds defenseman
Tanner Faith took a crosschecking penalty in the final minute of play, and Adam Henry shot one past Hewitt at 19:54 to make it 3-1 Manitoba. Both Merasty and Laurencelle picked up their second assists of the night on the goal.
A penalty-laden third period saw four Bisons visit the penalty box, including Zajac, who took a 10-minute misconduct at 3:20, but neither team scored again until the final seconds of the game. UBC's
Luke Lockhart shot one past Manitoba goaltender Byron Spriggs at 19:47, assisted by Bardaro and
Austin Vetterl, and the Bisons took the game 3-2.
Merasty was awarded first-star honours after the game. Spriggs was named the second star, while UBC's Bardaro picked up the third star title.
The teams will wrap up this two-game weekend set on Saturday with the Thunderbirds looking for their first road win of the season.
"We just have to play like last Friday against Alberta," said Butenschon. "We wanted it so bad and we ended up coming out of the corner with pucks and coming up with rebounds and we need to have that tomorrow."
Puck drop is 5:30 p.m. PT at Wayne Fleming Arena.
