VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (10-13-3) scored four times in the second period while
Derek Dun was terrific in goal in a 4-1 victory over the visiting Regina Cougars (3-21-2) to close out the final home weekend of the regular season.
For the second straight game, it was a short-handed goal that turned out to be the game winner. Regina tied the game at one 5:50 into the second period. Tristan Frei knocked in a loose puck at the side of the net after a Corey Kosloski wrist shot from the left faceoff circle was mishandled. The Cougars seemed to gain some momentum earning a power play immediately after their goal.
But it was the T-Birds who struck just 65 seconds later as
Nick Buonassisi stole the puck in the neutral zone before feeding it to
Luke Lockhart who sniped his eighth of the season restoring the T-Birds lead which they would not relinquish.
Dun made 29 saves for his second win in as many nights and fifth of the season while the 'Birds out shot the Cougars 34-30.
"Derek made some great saves for us," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon.
"Then in the third period we just kept it simple, grinded it out and didn't have to play much in our own zone."
It was a fairly uneventful first period as the Thunderbirds out shot Regina 11-8 in the frame but couldn't get one past Dawson MacAuley.
The T-Birds wasted little time getting on the board in the second, however, as
Anthony Bardaro scored his team leading 14th of the season just 53 seconds in. The veteran forward stole the puck in the neutral zone and skated it in one-on-one with Regina's Brody Luhning then snapped the puck over MacAuley's right shoulder for a tremendous solo effort.
Michael Stenerson gave the T-Birds a two-goal lead at the 10:33 mark of the second finishing on a late breakaway for his fourth of the season and second in as many games.
Adam Rossignol made a beautiful pass from the neutral zone boards to Stenerson who turned on the jets and beat MacAuley five-hole.
Riley Guenther increased the lead with just over two minutes remaining as he blasted the puck from high in the zone through traffic and into the net for his third of the season.
Austin Vetterl and
Carter Popoff collected the assists.
The T-Birds once again showed good puck movement on the power play and had several glorious chances but finished the game 0-for-4 while killing off all four of Regina's chances.
UBC finished the home portion of the regular season 8-5-1 and gave graduating forward
Joe Antilla a memorable send off in his final game in Vancouver as a Thunderbird.
"He comes to work every day, he comes to every optional practice, he's here early," said Butenschon who can't say enough about Antilla's character.
"He's exactly what you look for in a hockey player and an athlete and a person."
The fifth-year forward was presented with a keepsake prior to puck drop and admits he was feeling nostalgic heading into the weekend.
"You go back to a lot of the games you've played and the good games you've had over the years," said Antilla.
"To be honest it was just nice to get the win tonight. Guys are playing well."
The Thunderbirds head to Calgary next weekend for the final two games of the season against the Mount Royal Cougars as UBC continues their quest for a playoff berth currently in a dogfight with Lethbridge for the final spot in the conference.
"We've been fighting for our lives for about a month now and we've had that same mindset for awhile," said Butenschon.
"We knew we had to take care of business this weekend. Now we have to keep working hard, we have to prepare all week and stay focussed and head to Mount Royal and try to win two hockey games."
It's a sentiment echoed by Antilla.
"Give it up to the guys in the dressing room, they've been working hard," said the graduating forward.
"At the end of the day we need to keep pushing, keep winning. When we go to Mount Royal next weekend we need to get two wins which should get us into the playoffs so we just have to keep winning."
Regina will wrap up the season with two home games next weekend against the Calgary Dinos.
