VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds suffered their first regulation loss of the season as the Saskatchewan Huskies scored once on the power play, once short handed, once even strength and once into the empty net in a 4-2 decision Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Down 3-1 with three minutes remaining in the third, Jake Lee scored his team-leading fifth of the season to get the 'Birds within a goal. Kaeden Lane hustled to the bench for the extra attacker with just over two minutes left, but Cael Zimmerman found the empty net to seal the Huskies victory.
In a game that saw 14 total power plays – seven aside – the Huskies (4-1) finished 1-for-7 while UBC (3-1-1) failed to score on their seven opportunities in what turned out to be the difference while Saskatchewan Huskies goaltender Roddy Ross was exceptional making 31 saves for his third win of the season.
"We just couldn't' get any flow, couldn't get any rhythm," said UBC Head Coach Sven Butenschon. "We talk about our depth and everybody wants to get out there and play and everybody feels good and then every three minutes there was a power play or a penalty kill and we just couldn't find a good rhythm. They get one power play goal and we get zero and there's the difference."
Through the first two periods the T-Birds outshot the Huskies by a 22-20 margin, but it was the visitors who held the 2-1 edge at that point.
Second year forward Jared Dmytriw stole the puck at the T-Birds blue line and turned on the jets to put himself on a shorthanded breakaway where he roofed the puck past Lane to open scoring at the 15:09 mark.
UBC captain
Chris Douglas got the equalizer just 1:45 into the second with his second of the season with a shorthanded marker of his own.
Tian Rask blocked a Huskies shot and quickly fed the puck to
Sam Huo who in turn passed to Douglas who had just been released from the box and broke in on a partial breakaway. Douglas released the puck over Ross' glove to get the T-Birds faithful on their feet.
But by the midway point of the period the Huskies had restored their lead with a Vince Loschiavo power play goal, his third of the season, converting on a perfect cross-ice feed from Dmytriw.
Early in the third, the Huskies earned their first multi-goal lead of the night when Justin Ball tapped in a rebound for his second of the season after Lane made a nice pad save on an Alec Zawatsky shot.
Still down by two with three minutes remaining, Lee gave the T-Birds some hope when he intercepted a Huskies outlet pass attempt, weaved his way past another Saskatchewan forward and sniped just under the bar.
But the 'Birds weren't able to complete the comeback as they lost their first regular season game to the Huskies since 2020.
"Anytime we've played Saskatchewan in my time here as a coach it's been exactly like that," added Butenschon of the grind it out style of game Friday night. "They keep you to the outside, they have good sticks, they don't make it easy on you. They hope their power play gets one or two and they can hang on and that's what they did."
The 'Birds outshot the Huskies by a 35-25 margin.
Saturday afternoon UBC will look for redemption as they go for the weekend split when they host the Huskies again. Puck drop at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre is set for 3:00 p.m. PT. Tickets are available online and the game will be streamed live on Canada West TV.
