VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds fell 5-2 in game two of their Canada West quarter-final series against the Calgary Dinos Saturday night suffering a two-game sweep to end their season.
Facing elimination in the best-of-three series, the T-Birds had a 2-1 lead late into the second period only to see the Dinos score twice in the final five-and-a-half minutes of the frame to take the lead for good.
"To have the first period we did tonight was pretty impressive," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon who was proud of the way the team carried itself after a gut-wrenching triple overtime loss less than 19 hours earlier.
"To start the game not feeling sorry for ourselves, not feeling tired, not feeling sluggish and being able to push the pace like we did is pretty darn impressive."
Just as was the case in game one the previous night, Calgary had a 3-2 lead after two periods as the T-Birds pressed hard looking for the equalizer. UBC put up a whopping 17 shots on Matthew Greenfield in the third period alone but he stopped all of them making 28 total saves in the win as the T-Birds out shot the Dinos 30-21.
Just like in Friday's series opener the Dinos opened scoring, this time Braiden Doucette with his first of the post-season on the power play, 7:30 into the first period with Drydn Dow and Adam Kambeitz picking up the assists.
But the T-Birds answered back almost immediately, 59 seconds later to be precise, as
Jerret Smith beat Greenfield for his first of the playoffs from
Luke Lockhart to tie the game at one.
UBC then took the 2-1 lead at the 16:56 mark when
Manraj Hayer banged home an
Anthony Bardaro rebound in tight on the power play. Smith picked up the assist for his second point of the game while the Thunderbirds carried the lead into the middle frame.
"We had a heck of a first period and then the first half of the second period we didn't create much but we didn't give up much either," said Butenschon.
"We had a power play in the second and had two glorious chances with the goalie out of his net and just couldn't finish."
UBC finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play while the Dinos went 1-for-4.
The T-Birds held the lead with confidence but it was the Dinos who struck twice within a four-minute span to re-take the lead for good. Dow tied it at two at the 14:26 mark from Parker Bowles and Elgin Pearce before Kambeitz fired the puck past Dun at 18:34. Coda Gordon and Dow picked up the helpers.
With their backs totally against the wall to start the third, the 'Birds came out looking like the desperate team they needed to be, peppering Greenfield but simply unable to get anything past the goal line.
Chris Collins then gave the Dinos their first multi-goal lead of the series at the 12:05 mark of the third from Mitch Cook. The T-Birds burned their time out with 1:19 remaining on the clock and Dun on the bench for the extra attacker. But it was the Dinos who were able to seal the deal as Danny Gayle hit the empty net for his second goal of the series.
"There was a real good family feeling in there and it showed on the ice," said Butenschon who reiterated his pride and admiration for a team that showed incredibly resiliency throughout the entire season.
"I'm really proud of this group for coming together. They've had four different coaches in four years. The coaching change in training camp, I can't imagine what it's been like for those guys and for them to just accept there are no excuses and to do whatever they can to be proud of themselves and they did that, and I commend them."
The Dinos advance to the Canada West semi-final where they'll face the Alberta Golden Bears in a best-of-three series beginning Friday, February 24
th.
