VANCOUVER – In a fitting finish to a years-long tight battle between the two Canada West rivals, the UBC Thunderbirds and Calgary Dinos needed a shootout to determine the winner Saturday afternoon where the visitors from Cowtown came away as victors in a 4-3 final at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Similar to Friday night's season opener, the teams were deadlocked 2-2 early in the third. Jack Wismer's first of the season three minutes into the final frame gave the 'Birds the lead but Connor Horning tied the game less than three minutes later on a fortuitous bounce.
Ten minutes of overtime solved nothing, even with each team enjoying a coveted 4-on-3 power play, forcing the first UBC shootout since January 2020, also against the Dinos. And just as in that case, it was veteran forward Jordan Xavier who scored the clinching goal, this time snapping the puck over Kaeden Lane's glove to earn Calgary the weekend split.
"Pretty disappointed, not just in the result, but I thought we'd have a little more jam, a little more jump," said UBC Head Coach Sven Butenschon. "We have a deep team, I made sure I spread the ice around last night in the hopes of having more energy and legs today and I didn't really see it. I thought we played good but, it's so hard to win both games and we just didn't have that killer instinct to put them down."
The T-Birds outshot the Dinos by a 39-32 margin, including 8-3 in overtime, but Carl Stankowski was up to the task, earning his first win of the season, allowing just one of UBC's three shooters, Carson Miller, to get one past him in the shootout.
"Stankowski tonight, he steadied the fort a little bit for us, he played big," said Calgary Head Coach Mark Howell. "He's not a big guy but he played tall in the net I though he made some huge saves and in the shootout made two big saves for sure. We started slow but kind of got better and better, that's a big two points for us, it's a big swing for sure and in our league you just can't get swept. I know it's in the shootout but two points is really important."
After failing to score on the power play in Friday's opener, the T-Birds got one on their first try Saturday with
Ethan McIndoe earning his first goal in the blue and gold. At the 3:16 mark of the first,
Liam Kindree found McIndoe with a perfect back door feed to give UBC the early lead.
The Dinos responded with Max Patterson's first of two goals on the night, both from Riley Stotts. At 8:34, Stotts found Patterson in the slot and the second-year from Kamloops let go a quick release, stick side past Lane to tie the game.
Less than four minutes later, the two connected again to give Calgary their first lead of the weekend off a defensive zone turnover by the T-Birds.
But before the period was out, UBC got the game back to evens when Sasha Mutala took a cross-ice bank pass from Chris Douglas, powered to the net and roofed one past Stankowski for his first Canada West tally.
Wismer's go-ahead goal in the third saw the second-year from Ontario come into the zone on a two-on-one. He patiently held onto the puck as he cut to the slot and fired a shot toward the net that was blocked, but he converted on his own rebound.
The tying goal which forced overtime came less than two minutes later when a cross-seam pass attempt went off a UBC stick and past a helpless Lane.
While UBC ends the season opening weekend with three of a possible four points, there will no doubt be some extra fire in the belly when they head to Winnipeg next weekend for their first road trip of the season to face the Manitoba Bisons starting Friday, October 7 at Wayne Fleming Arena.
