REGINA – The UBC Thunderbirds kept their hopes for a home playoff berth alive with a dominant 5-1 win over the host Regina Cougars Friday night at the Co-Operators Centre.

Austin Glover scored twice, Tyler Sandhu had a trio of assists and the 'Birds connected twice on the power play in the third while Rylan Toth made 27 stops in goal for his ninth win of the season.

Regina captain Tristan Frei scored the lone goal for the home team with his seventh of the season on the power play in the third.

"We got one early and then got the confidence going," said UBC assistant coach Kelvin Cech. "On the power play we got some guys to finish and it's different guys all over the lineup, so it's encouraging for sure."



Glover's first of the night opened the scoring 7:28 into the first period, as he was able to tuck one home after Sandhu fanned on a shot but ended up making a great pass across the crease. Jerret Smith also assisted on Glover's third of the season, the only goal of the first period as UBC outshot the Cougars 13-6 in the frame.

Fresh off his first career Canada West hat trick last Saturday, Chase Clayton doubled the T-Birds' lead early in the second period with his sixth of the season. Glover added his second of the night just 20 seconds later with a rebound goal after Dawson MacAuley made a save on a Sandhu shot.

Austin Vetterl pushed the lead to 4-0 early in the third with a power play goal on a one-timer before the Cougars could get on the board. It was Vetterl's ninth of the season and first in eight games. Sandhu and Steven Hodges picked up the helpers.



Frei's goal came with the man advantage at the 13:48 mark of the third, beating Toth with a wrist shot to the glove side after taking a feed from Zak Zborosky. Any hope of a miraculous Cougar comeback was snuffed out just over two minutes later, as Colton Kehler ripped a one-timer slap shot that beat MacAuley on the power play.

"Glover, Kehler, and Clayton, they all play the right way in the D zone, they don't cheat for offence and it's really encouraging to see," added Cech who was happy to see those three get rewarded on the scoresheet in addition to a solid night for Glover. "For Kehler, he had a tough stretch in the first half of the year with injury and now he's putting up some goals, that shot on the power play, not many goalies are going to stop that."

UBC finished the game 2-for-6 on the man advantage while the Cougars went 1-for-2.



Regina and UBC will square off again on Saturday afternoon as the 'Birds need a win to have a shot at securing fourth place in the conference. The T-Birds enter the final day of the season just one point back of the Mount Royal Cougars for the final home playoff berth as the Lethbridge Pronghorns host MRU in the second half of their home-and-home series.

"We really have to worry about ourselves and play the right way for us," continued Cech. "We need to know when to chip pucks north and when to let our skill take over and make the right plays. We're down bodies and dealing with a short lineup once again but we just need to keep the momentum going."

Puck drop for the T-Birds' regular season finale is set for 1:00 p.m. PT at the Co-Operators Centre.