SASKATOON – Three goals in the second period, including a pair on the power play, led the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men's hockey team to a dominant 4-0 victory over the UBC Thunderbirds inside Merlis Belsher Place Friday night.

Kohl Bauml led the way with a pair of goals, moving his season total to nine, while Sam Ruopp and Collin Shirley also scored in the win.

Taran Kozun moved into ninth in the Huskies' single-season record books with win number 16 on the year, making 17 saves for his third shutout in 2018-19.

Saskatoon native Rylan Toth was strong for UBC making 37 saves in the losing effort as Saskatchewan outshot the Thunderbirds 41-17 on the night.



The win moves Saskatchewan to a league-leading 20-3-0 on the season while UBC continues to fight for home-ice advantage in the playoffs with a record of 11-10-2.

The first real chance of the game came seven minutes in when Shirley went on a great individual rush and slid the puck over to Logan McVeigh but Toth came up big with a blocker save.

With two minutes remaining in the opening frame Saskatchewan got their pressure to pay off when Parker Thomas spotted a pinching Ruopp who made no mistake in firing the puck top-corner.

The first period came to an end with Saskatchewan holding a 14-3 lead in shots and a 1-0 advantage on the score board.



UBC nearly found an equalizer six minutes into the second period when Austin Vetterl and Michael Stenerson broke in on an odd-man rush but Stenerson couldn't get his shot on net.

The Huskies' lead was doubled after a Michael Sofillas shot squeaked out of Toth's glove, rolled off his back and onto the ice where Bauml was waiting to jam it into the open net.

Four minutes later Saskatchewan added to their lead on the power play. Levi Cable, McVeigh and Bauml played a beautiful game of tic-tac-toe passing that ended with Bauml scoring his second of the night.

The game was put out of reach with just 30 seconds left in the frame when the Huskies' red-hot power play struck again. Alex Forsberg fired a hard pass into the slot that Collin Shirley deflected past a screened Toth to make the score 4-0 in favour of the home team.

"They came in waves and they had a really good start," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon. "I thought we did really well weathering the storm and we defended well, we had one break down which they scored on. In the second period we just let it slip through our fingers. We just couldn't shut down their power play and the next thing you know it's 4-0 and the game's kind of over at that point."


 
UBC played by far their best hockey of the game in the third period. Vetterl and Carter Popoff combined for a pair of chances in-tight at the start of the frame but Kozun was able to fight through a scramble in front to make the stops.

From there the Huskies were able to run out the remainder of the clock without much action to pick up their fifth win in a row.

"Some guys really impressed me with how they performed in the third period in a 4-0 game," added Butenschon. "Definitely something to build off of, it was a pretty even third period and we found our legs too and it showed."

These same two teams will be back in action Saturday night with puck-drop scheduled for 5:00 p.m. PT at Merlis Belsher Place with the 'Birds getting one last crack at earning a victory over the Huskies this season.