VANCOUVER – Rylan Toth made 17 saves for his first career Canada West shutout as the UBC Thunderbirds completed the weekend sweep of the Trinity Western Spartans with a 4-0 win Saturday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
The T-Birds (2-0) scored twice in the opening 20 minutes and put the game on ice with a pair of empty netter shorthanded tallies in the dying minutes of the third to improve to 2-0 on the young season and a share of the top of the Canada West standings.
"When you have a deep team like we do this year, it really helps on those back to back games," said UBC Head Coach Sven Butenschon who saw his team get out of the gate 2-0 for the second time in the last three seasons. "Our penalty kill has been great, I didn't like our power play today, it just wasn't clicking, it's something we have to work on, maybe simplify a few things."
The game easily could have been out of reach for the Spartans far earlier than it was if not for UBC going 0-for-5 on the power play. The penalty kill did finish a perfect 3-for-3 to remain perfect through the first weekend of the season.
Michael Clarke scored what turned out to be the game winning goal 8:47 into the first as he took a beautiful Cyle McNabb feed across the top of the crease and roofed the puck for his first tally as a Thunderbird.
UBC doubled their lead with just over two minutes remaining in the opening 20 when Jarret Tyszka grabbed a loose puck, skated to the top of the slot and unleashed a perfectly placed wrister that went bar down for his first of the year.
The T-Birds had the benefit of four consecutive power play opportunities, three of them in the second period, but were unable to capitalize as the Spartans were able to enter the final frame still in striking distance.
A rather tame third period suddenly took a turn late as the Spartans earned back-to-back power plays of their own.
Just seconds after pulling goaltender Berk Berkeliev for the 6-on-4 advantage, Matt Revel found the empty cage to put the 'Birds up by three with less than three minutes remaining.
The Spartans attempted another 6-on-4 with 90 seconds to go, but got burned again as Chris Douglas took a Conner MacDonald bank pass and also found the empty net for his first in the blue and gold.
Toth wasn't busy Saturday afternoon but was stellar when called upon as he finished the weekend allowing just one goal on 43 combined shots.
"He's a pro, he understands sometimes there's going to be nights you're only facing a few shots and those are probably tougher for him," said Butenschon. "He's mentally tough and he's developed into a great goalie in all key situations. In the first period when we probably could have had three or four, those are dangerous games because the other team hangs in there and believes they can come back so he did a great job at making sure he shut the door."
The Thunderbirds will now hit the road for the first time in 20 months when they visit the Manitoba Bisons in Winnipeg next Friday and Saturday before returning home to host the other new Canada West entry, the MacEwan Griffins on October 29th and 30th.
