CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos scored four times in the first 14 minutes, which was more than they needed, to hand the UBC Thunderbirds a 7-2 loss at Father David Bauer Arena Friday night.
Max Patterson found the back of the net twice in the opening period to help set the tone as the Dinos (6-3-0) came storming out the gates, outshooting the T-Birds (4-3-2) by a 14-3 margin in the first 20 minutes and 42-23 overall.
"They came out ready to play and we were sleepy, we weren't ready to go," said a disappointed UBC Head Coach Sven Butenschon. "Our league is just too good to just play half-revved up. They started hot, got a few behind us and we just couldn't get our composure and find our game."
Just 2:01 after puckdrop, Connor Horning sent a great pass to Patterson who finished backdoor for the 1-0 Calgary lead on their first shot of the game. Connor Gutenberg followed with a tip-in off Marty Westhaver's shot and it was 2-0 less than a minutes later.
Patterson continued the momentum with his second goal after Sean Strange passed the puck in for a successful Dinos power play midway through the first. Colson Gegenbach made it a 4-0 Calgary lead at the 13:47 mark with his second goal in as many games.
The Dinos wasted no time in continuing their scoring outburst in the second period as Jake Gricius found the back of the net just 32 seconds in for his eighth goal of the season to stretch the lead to 5-0.
The T-Birds continued to battle and got on the board late in the second on a power play.
Liam Kindree fired a shot from the left side and hit the cross bar before it caromed down and in, with assists credited to
Jonathan Smart and Josh Williams to make it 5-1 after two.
In the third period Jordan Xavier and Jaeger White both scored their first goals of the season, before Sam Huo added another power play goal for UBC to close out the scoring for the night.
"Even the games we haven't won this year we still were able to stick to our team identity, play in the O-zone and generate lots of shots and scoring chances," added Butenschon. "But tonight we probably had less than five scoring chances five on five, spent too much time in the D-zone, our forecheck wasn't able to create, and our play away from the puck in the neutral zone was quite poor too."
The lone bright spot for the T-Birds was their continued success on the man advantage, finishing the game 2-for-4 while the Dinos scored once on seven tries.
UBC will look for the weekend split – and the season series split – Saturday when they once again battle the Dinos.
"I thought this was going to be the most important weekend of the season and now after what happened tonight it makes tomorrow even more important," stressed Butenschon. "The way we lost today makes the first shift, the first ten minutes even more important."
Puck drop at Father David Bauer Arena is set for 6:00 p.m. PT. The game will be streamed live on Canada West TV.
