VANCOUVER – A five-goal third period powered the UBC Thunderbirds to an 8-3 win over the visiting Simon Fraser Clan to open up pre-season play and the inaugural Captains Cup at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre Friday night.
Tied at three after 40 minutes, the Thunderbirds came storming out of the gate in the final frame scoring five times, four of them within a five-minute span.
The 'Birds outshot Simon Fraser 41-22 while Rylan Toth picked up his first win in net for UBC with 19 saves.
It was a bit of a rollercoaster for the 'Birds through the first two periods. After a solid start spotting themselves a 2-0 lead midway through the first, the middle frame saw UBC get into penalty trouble spending six straight minutes on the penalty kill including more than two minutes down 5-on-3.
Despite five SFU power plays in the period, the Clan only scored on one of them which tied the game at 2-2 thanks to Tyler Basham's second of the game.
UBC got the lead back at the 17:19 mark when second-year forward
Carter Popoff put home his own rebound.
Just as it seemed the 'Birds would escape into the second intermission with the lead, Simon Fraser tied it with 43 seconds left on Jayden Piatelli shot that may have been deflected before it entered the net.
"We got a bit of a lesson in hard work," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon about a rough second period.
"SFU is hard on loose pucks and hard 1-on-1. As soon as we let up a little bit they capitalized on their opportunities and we got frustrated and took some penalties."
But the T-Birds re-grouped and dominated the final 20 minutes.
Manraj Hayer sniped his second of the game with a perfectly placed shot over Lyndon Stanwood's shoulder at the 4:56 mark kicking off a flurry of UBC goals.
Less than 90 seconds later,
Chase Clayton notched his first of the pre-season finishing off a
Nick Buonassisi rebound with
Michael Stenerson picking up the other assist, his first of two on the night.
At 8:23 it was captain
Wes Vannieuwenhuizen who unleased a low, hard slap shot from the point to open up a three-goal lead,
Raymond Grewal had the only helper.
Third-year forward
Austin Vetterl closed out the night with a pair of goals at 9:46 and 18:40.
While Vetterl and Hayer each scored twice, Stenerson also had a two-point night as did
Riley Guenther who opened scoring 7:39 in the first period with a short-handed goal.
Hayer's first came on the power play in the first period from first-year forward Tyler Sandhu and returning defenceman
Jerret Smith.
All told, 13 different T-Bird skaters hit the scoresheet.
"The cool thing as a coach was to see the group stick together and stay composed and come out in the third period and kick it up a notch in work ethic," said Butenschon.
"This group has had some good chemistry for a while now. When you add in the new guys like Sandhu, (Austin) Glover, and (Matt) Revel, their offensive upside is huge so it's a matter of trying to put them in spots where they can succeed."
UBC finished 1-for-4 on the power play while killing off six of seven SFU chances.
The Captains Cup continues Saturday night when the Clan face the Trinity Western Spartans. The 'Birds close out the round-robin tournament at home on Saturday, September 30 against TWU.
Next up for UBC is a pair of home non-conference dates next Friday and Saturday, September 22-23 against Queen's.
