VANCOUVER – Rylan Toth tied a Canada West regular season record with his third consecutive shutout, stopping all 36 shots sent his way as the UBC Thunderbirds earned a 3-0 win over the visiting Calgary Dinos Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Starting off 2022 by extending their season-long home win streak to seven games, the T-Birds got a power play goal from Conner McDonald in the second period and found the empty net twice late in the third as UBC improved to 11-1-1 on the season while clinching a Canada West playoff berth in the process.
"We hadn't played in a long time, we were in the box all night, your lines are jumbled, you're playing the crap out of certain penalty killers, so that didn't help," said UBC Head Coach Sven Butenschon whose team finished a perfect 8-for-8 on the penalty kill. "We knew we weren't going to be on our 'A' game being off for so long, so we're just really lucky we were able to come away with the win and hopefully we can improve tomorrow."
Despite coming into Friday night with a potent man advantage clicking at 29.1 percent, the Dinos (9-5-1) were unable to convert, thanks in large part to Toth's stellar play which included 13 saves in the final frame which included four separate penalty kill scenarios.
Toth's third straight shutout ties a Canada West record, shared by three others, most recently accomplished by former Saskatchewan netminder Taran Kozun in 2019.
"The guy is on the ice an hour before every practice doing extra, spends a ton of time working with the goalie coach, he takes care of his body, he works on his recovery, he stretches, he does yoga," Butenschon said, listing Toth's training regimen. "When you have all those good habits, the big picture is usually pretty successful and he's getting right now what he's putting into the game."
Following a scoreless opening period, the 'Birds got on the board in the second when McDonald found the back of the net late on a power play for his first as a Thunderbird. The defencemen let a shot go from the blue line which got past a screened Carl Stankowski at 6:06.
The two conference rivals traded chances throughout the remainder of the game, but it wasn't until the Dinos put Stankowski on the bench for the extra attacker that UBC was able to put the game on ice, scoring twice into the empty net within a 15 second span.
Chris Douglas scored from about 150 feet out, perfectly curling the puck into the open cage with 56 seconds remaining for his team-leading eighth of the season. Austin Glover then got rewarded for a tremendous two-way effort with his second of the campaign.
The 'Birds finished the night 1-for-4 on the power play with the decided special teams edge.
"It's a great group, the guys love to play for each other. They want to block those shots for their teammates, but I think tonight you saw a little bit more of that because they knew we didn't have our game and they were going to have to do those little things like blocking shots because we weren't that sharp. So I think that's why you saw an even more exaggerated commitment to sacrificing and having no respect for your own body and just eating pucks."
The win keeps UBC alone at the top of the Canada West standings, clinching a playoff berth for a tenth straight season.
The Dinos fall to fourth in the conference, but just one point back of third place Saskatchewan and four behind the leading T-Birds.
UBC and Calgary battle for the final time this regular season Saturday afternoon with another critical two points up for grabs. Puck drop is set for 2:00 p.m. PT at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Tickets are available but must be reserved in advance. The game will also be streamed live on Canada West TV.
