VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team (7-10-2) hosted the Manitoba Bisons (8-10-1) for UBC's annual Winter Classic at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on Friday night. With a sell-out crowd of 5,036 fans cheering them on, the T-Birds rallied together and scored four unanswered goals in the second period to defeat the Bisons 4-3. The win marked UBC's first Winter Classic victory since its inception in 2015.
Chase Clayton,
Jerret Smith,
Manraj Hayer and
Joe Antilla scored for UBC, with all four goals scored in just over ten minutes. Despite a late game goal from Manitoba's Shaq Merasty, the 'Birds dominant second period was enough to give them the 'W'. UBC's goaltender,
Matt Hewitt, made 27 saves, while Manitoba's Byron Sprigg stopped 26 of 30 UBC shots.
Thunderbirds head coach
Sven Butenschon was impressed with his team's performance in the middle frame, and acknowledged that the energy from the historic crowd had something to do with it.
"The second period was incredible. Once we simplified our game good things [happened]. I think we got some energy from the fans after the first period, and we used it in a good way," said Butenschon. "We were able to capitalize on playing in their end, and making their defencemen turn every time. They couldn't handle our pressure."
Antilla, who is currently playing his fifth season as a Thunderbird and scored Friday night's game winning goal, felt both intimidated and inspired by the loud and proud gathering of Thunderbirds fans.
"[We] got the tingle at the start of the game when they announced [the] Thunderbirds, and the whole place went crazy. Right out of the gate I had energy. Every shift was great. To be honest, you couldn't dream this up. It was awesome," said Antilla.
UBC finished their road trip to Edmonton last weekend with a win and overtime loss – their most successful single weekend record since early November. With momentum on their side, the 'Birds were looking to capitalize against a Bisons team with three wins in their last eight games.
Although there was steady action on both ends of the rink, it was the Bisons who opened up scoring with Nick Zajac's goal at 11:00 in the opening frame. A highlight reel save from Hewitt late in first kept the 'Birds alive until the break, despite being out shot 10-5 in the opening 20.
While serving their second penalty kill of the game, UBC left enough space for Manitoba's Jordan DePape to net his team's second of the game. UBC didn't let the two goal deficit slow them down. At 7:21, following a spectacular, sprawling pad save by Spriggs,
Chase Clayton found twine to cut UBC's deficit to one.
Just under a minute and a half later, UBC netted their second goal on the man-advantage. Vetterl and Hayer helped deliver the puck to Smith who tied things up at two apiece. UBC would follow up with another pair of powerplay goals before the end of the second, including a top corner snipe from Hayer and the game winner from Antilla.
The Bisons will have a shot at redemption when they return to Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on Saturday, January 15 at 2:00pm (PT).
