REGINA, Sask. –
Patrick Dea made 29 saves for his first career Canada West shutout while
Chase Clayton stayed hot scoring twice as the UBC Thunderbirds completed the sweep of the Regina Cougars with the 2-0 victory to head into the playoffs on a three game win streak.
Clayton opened scoring for the 'Birds (14-12-2) midway through the second with his seventh of the season and capped off a three-goal weekend hitting the empty net. Dea's shutout was also his fifth win of the season. Dawson MacAuley made 26 saves between the pipes for the Cougars (4-23-1).
"We came out a little bit sluggish and (Dea) held down the fort for us early on and made some really nice saves," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon who's team has surrendered just three combined goals in their last three games. "He was really comfortable, sound positionally and the guys fed off him and he was for sure our best player today."
Thanks to a Lethbridge Pronghorns victory over Mount Royal Saturday night, the 'Birds finish one point ahead of MRU for fourth in the conference and will now host the Cougars for a best-of-three quarter-final series next weekend.
The first period produced no score Saturday afternoon with Regina outshooting UBC 10-5. The T-Birds had the best scoring chance of the opening 20, as a
Kyle Becker slap shot from the point beat MacAuley but rang off the post.
Clayton's goal opened the scoring at the 7:26 mark of the second period, off an assist from
Carter Popoff. Clayton took the puck up the boards on a 2-on-1 and elected to shoot, beating MacAuley with a perfectly-placed shot to the blocker side.
UBC went to the power play midway through the third period after a James Hilsendager hooking minor, looking to extend their lead, but Regina had a great chance seconds after the penalty. After a UBC turnover the Cougars went racing the other way with Tristan Frei leading the charge. Frei chose to shoot, firing a wrist shot that beat Dea but clipped off the post and bounced away from danger.
Regina had a power play chance of their own with time ticking away in the third period, but couldn't capitalize with the advantage. UBC nearly put the game away shortly after, but a couple clutch saves from MacAuley and a shot off the post by
Matt Revel kept it a one-goal game.
With MacAuley out of the net late and the Cougars still on the penalty kill, Clayton scooped up a loose puck and raced down the ice to tuck it into the empty cage putting the game on ice with his sixth goal in the last three games.
The T-Birds finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play while the Cougars went 0-for-3.
"In playoffs momentum can change pretty darn quick," said Butenschon when asked about his team's momentum heading into the post-season. "Knowing our group, we're pretty mature, we know that it's going to be a completely different ball game on Friday, we still need to improve on certain aspects of our game and every day in practice this week is going to be important to get ready."
UBC will kickoff the Canada West quarter-finals against the Mount Royal Cougars Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
