CALGARY –
Colton Kehler scored twice within a four minute span in the third period, leading the UBC Thunderbirds to a 4-2 win over the Mount Royal Cougars Friday night at Flames Community Arenas taking a 1-0 lead in the Canada West quarter-final.
Kehler scored his first career conference playoff goal to break a 2-2 tie early in the frame for what stood up as the game winner before adding some insurance as the T-Birds earned the critical lead in the best-of-three series.
"I really didn't like our second half of the second period, but then in the third period we came out and played our best period which we needed," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon who was especially pleased with the Kehler,
Quinn Benjafield,
Matt Revel line which combined for seven points. "Those guys are all really great skaters and they can make really solid plays with time and space. I had a feeling those guys would have a good night and it was good to see them come through."
UBC struck first five-and-a-half minutes into the first, taking advantage of a Mount Royal turnover deep in their own zone. Revel grabbed the puck from the end boards and quickly fed it out in front to Benjafield who snapped it past MRU's Riley Morris.
The Cougars responded just over two minutes later when Nolan Yaremko took a feed from Connor Rankin before wristing the puck stick side past
Rylan Toth.
Before the period was out, the 'Birds re-took the lead with their first power play goal of the series on a redirection in the low slot that fooled Riley Morris.
Maxwell James was credited with his first Canada West post-season goal when he managed to get a sliver of a touch on the puck after a
Tyler Sandhu pass attempt deflected off a Mount Royal skate.
UBC held the 2-1 lead until the final minute of the second when Brad Kennedy scored his first of the playoffs. The third-year Cougar forward managed to get loose from behind the T-Birds net and tuck the puck inside the post before Toth could get his pad tight.
After some minor lapses in the middle frame, the third period belonged to Kehler and the T-Birds. The second-year forward scored the go-ahead marker at the 6:25 mark after being sprung on a breakaway by Benjafield. Kehler drove in towards Morris and chipped the puck over his blocker for his first playoff goal in the blue and gold.
Less than four minutes later, Kehler struck again to silence the Cougar faithful. Benjafield picked up his third point of the night when he fired the puck on net from a sharp angle. Morris made the stop but Mount Royal couldn't clear it and Kehler pounced on the rebound.
The Cougars put Morris on the bench for the extra attacker with three minutes remaining, but MRU wasn't able to get anything past Toth who made 26 saves by the final buzzer.
Despite Friday night serving as the third meeting between the two in the last eight days, it was a fairly clean game with UBC finishing the night 1-for-2 on the power play while Mount Royal failed to score on three man advantages.
The early lead in a short series is certainly a big advantage for UBC, but the 'Birds know, to a man, they're about to face their biggest challenge of the season in game two.
"We've been in this position before and it doesn't mean anything, this was one hockey game," insisted Butenschon. "We put that game behind us really quick. We've kind of proved to ourselves that when we play to our capabilities we don't have to do anything outrageous, we don't have to be heroes out there. We just have to play our game, keep it simple and good things will happen."
Puck drop for the first elimination game of the series is set for 6:30 p.m. PT Saturday at Flames Community Arenas. The game will be available live on Canada West TV.
