SASKATOON – The University of Saskatchewan Huskies moved to 10-1 at home this season with a 5-0 victory over the UBC Thunderbirds on Bell Let's Talk Night at Merlis Belsher Place, sweeping the weekend and the season series against the T-Birds.

Levi Cable led the way for the Huskies with a goal and two assists, while Logan McVeigh and Michael Sofillas each found the back of the net and added a helper in the win. Sam Ruopp and Carson Stadnyk continued their tremendous seasons with both burying a goal. Evan Fiala picked up his second and third assists of the 2018-19 campaign, while Kohl Bauml, Collin Shirley and Gordie Ballhorn each tacked on assists in the victory.
 
Saskatchewan goaltender Taran Kozun picked up his second consecutive shutout and fourth of the season with an impressive 23 save night. UBC netminder Patrick Dea allowed five goals on 33 shots in the loss.


 
Saskatchewan moves to 21-3-0 on the season with the win and continue their quest to lockdown the top seed in the Canada West which would ensure home-ice throughout the entirety of the postseason. Meanwhile, UBC falls to 11-11-2 coming away empty-handed on their road trip as they continue to fight for a home playoff date themselves.
 
The Thunderbirds were presented with the first opportunity of the game after the Huskies turned the puck over at their own blue line. Austin Glover broke in one on a two-on-one, but Kozun was able to snare the wrist shot with 11:35 remaining in the first. Moments later, the visitors continued to press as Chase Clayton feathered a saucer pass between a pair of Saskatchewan defencemen to an in-stride Colton Kehler, but Kozun shut the door to keep the game scoreless.

"The first period wasn't only our best period of the night, it might've been our best period of the year," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon. "We were really assertive, we were aggressive, we were sharp, we outshot them, outchanced them and I saw a lot of good things. But after 20 minutes we still hadn't scored in four periods."


 
Saskatchewan's best opportunity of the period came with under three minutes remaining when Sofillas slid a centering pass across to Bauml, who had two goals on Friday night, but his effort was denied by Dea. The goaltender kicked off his post and got a pad on the shot to make a tremendous save.
 
UBC outshot the hosts 10-7 in the frame as the visitors controlled play and came out looking to avenge their loss the previous night. However, the Huskies came ready to play in the second period.
 
Just over a minute into the frame, Sofillas and Cable broke in on the two-on-one and Cable dangled the lone Thunderbirds defenceman and outwaited Dea to get the hosts on the board with a nice finish.
 
After scoring twice with the man-advantage in the first game of the series, Saskatchewan's red-hot power play continued to click. Cable spotted McVeigh on the goal line and the fourth-year forward did the rest as he snuck his one-timer past Dea to make it 2-0.
 
The Huskies continued their second period explosion as they scored their third goal in the first six minutes of the frame. Shirley spotted Stadnyk, who was standing all alone at the side of the cage and he potted his 12th goal of the season.
 
The green and white continued to pressure in waves when Ruopp found his way onto a loose puck on the power play and ripped a wrist shot over Dea's glove. The Huskies outshot the Thunderbirds 13-5 in the frame which saw the home side dominate and find the back of the net four times.


 
Saskatchewan added to their lead three minutes into the third when Sofillas scooped up a loose puck in the slot, turned, and squeaked a sneaky shot off the post and past Dea.
 
The Huskies finished the remainder of the frame from there and on the back of their four-goal second period, picked up their sixth consecutive victory.
"We have to put it behind us really quick," Butenschon said of the disappointing weekend. "We've got four games to finish the year and we need to get some momentum going into playoffs. It's been a tough schedule since Christmas, we would've liked to pull out a couple more wins in there, we didn't get it but now it's time to figure things out because we're running out of time."
 
Despite the weekend sweep, the 'Birds remain two points back of Mount Royal for the fourth and final home playoff berth. UBC now returns home for their final pair of regular season games at Point Grey next weekend when they host the Manitoba Bisons.