CALGARY – The Mount Royal Cougars scored four unanswered goals to hand the UBC Thunderbirds a 4-1 loss Friday night at Flames Community Arenas.

Cougars forward Ryley Lindgren scored a natural hat trick as the 'Birds see their three-game point streak come to a halt in the first half of the weekend series in Calgary.

"Against a tough opponent like Mount Royal it's going to be close, it's going to be tight and the little things matter," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon. "We had 16 scoring chances but only scored one. They had a similar amount of scoring chances and scored a few more and that was the difference. If you're on the road and you get 16 scoring chances you take that every time, we just got to find a way to get some 5-on-5 scoring."



The first period favoured the Thunderbirds as second year forward Maxwell James opened scoring just after the 13 minute mark on the power play. Taking a quick pass from Carter Popoff, James sniped the puck past Cougars' goalie Wyatt Hoflin for his fourth goal of the season.

But that was the only time Hoflin would be beat on a night where he made 28 saves for his fifth win of the season.

The Cougars regrouped for a strong second period. Mount Royal forward Jamal Watson earned his third goal of the season, unassisted, halfway through the frame. Shortly after, Lindgren shot past UBC goaltender Rylan Toth for his seventh goal of the season, with an assist from defenceman Allan MacPherson, to take the lead heading into the third.



Lindgren was full of energy as he notched his second goal of the night three minutes into the third with an unassisted long-range snipe.

Just over a minute later, Lindgren completed the hat trick with helpers from Connor Rankin and Connor Blake.

The Thunderbirds were making some quick plays to try and mount a comeback but just couldn't shake the Cougars defences.

Both teams finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play while the Cougars outshot the 'Birds 34-29.

"I don't think last weekend we had 16 scoring chances, we just finished," added Butenschon who saw his team put up a combined 12 goals in two games against Lethbridge at home one week ago. "Until we learn to play a patient, smart, disciplined road game for 60 minutes, it's going to be tough to change."

UBC will go for the weekend split Saturday. Puck drop is set for 2:00 p.m. PT.