VANCOUVER – The Saskatchewan Huskies never held a lead in the game but managed to come away with a 4-3 overtime win over the UBC Thunderbirds Saturday afternoon, sweeping the weekend series at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
After a wild first period that saw five total goals, offence at both ends of the ice dried up as the T-Birds (2-5-3) held the one goal advantage well into the final frame.
But with just five minutes remaining in regulation, Shane Collins sent a point shot towards the net that hit Donovan Neuls who then got the puck to his backhand and roofed it past
Rylan Toth to tie the game, eventually forcing overtime.
In the final minute of 4-on-4, it was a strange bounce that ended up ending what was otherwise a highly entertaining, high quality game. Jared Dmytriw sent a cross-ice feed attempt towards Collin Shirley, but the puck deflected off a T-Bird stick and past a helpless Toth.
"That was a good effort for us, it was a fun game to coach," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon. "When you see the guys competing at that level, working hard every time they touch the ice, we give ourselves a good chance. We deserved better tonight but we got to stay positive, continue to work hard and we'll get those results."
If not for the eventual outcome, the storyline would have been UBC's tremendous special teams effort that saw the 'Birds go 2-for-4 on the power play while killing off seven of eight penalties.
The T-Birds' first power play goal came just 5:01 into the opening period when rookie forward
Jake Kryski held the puck on a 3-on-1 UBC rush, wristing it past Travis Child for his first Canada West goal.
But just 28 seconds later the lead was gone after Layne Young pounced on a rebound in the slot for his sixth of the season.
UBC got the lead back at the 10:41 mark when
Austin Vetterl scored his third goal in as many games.
Maxwell James fed the puck to the fifth-year forward in the slot who beat Child over his blocker.
For the second time in the period, the Huskies (5-3-2) answered back with a tying goal, this time from Kohl Bauml on the power play. A Collins point shot went off the post and stalled behind Toth, waiting for Bauml to poke it across the line for his second of the season.
The T-Birds would restore their lead before the period was out with their second power play goal of the period.
Jonathan Smart blasted a slap shot from the blue line right into the back of the net for his first goal as a Thunderbird.
"We had more jump in our legs and we kept it a simpler game," said Butenschon comparing his team's performance to the night before. "Our forwards beat guys one-on-one and now we got to work on taking that one step further and getting more out of it. The good thing is we're creating a lot, we're just not finishing."
Carrying the 3-2 lead into the third, the 'Birds weren't able to get one past Taran Kozun who replaced Child in the Saskatchewan crease to start the second.
Both the 'Birds and Huskies are off from Canada West action on a bye week before returning November 15
th and 16
th. UBC will remain at home to host the Lethbridge Pronghorns while Saskatchewan will host the Manitoba Bisons.
