VANCOUVER – Jordan Sandhu scored the only goal of the game late in the first period while Kaeden Lane earned his first career Canada West shutout making 27 saves as the UBC Thunderbirds earned a 1-0 win over the host Saskatchewan Huskies Friday night at Merlis Belsher Place.
The victory is the first for UBC in Saskatoon since November of 2015 while the Huskies also suffered their first regulation loss on home ice this season.
"This is one of those situations, going into Alberta or coming out here, you can only talk so much about it, you have to experience it. So for all our first year guys, and myself included, to get out here to stick to our game plan, initiate right from the beginning and take that game to them was good to see," said UBC assistant coach Jackson Playfair. "We were ready to go off the hop, it's a good recipe for success."
Despite being handed an extra long holiday break with a Canada West bye last weekend, there was no evidence of rust whatsoever on the T-Birds who came out of the gates guns a blazing, dominating the opening period, outshooting the Huskies by a 14-6 margin.
The game's only goal came at the 13:49 mark when Sandhu found himself in the right place at the right time, finding a loose puck off a rebound from the end glass and popping it into a wide open cage for his third of the season. James Form fed the puck to Jonny Lambos at the point whose slapshot got a piece of Saskatchewan goaltender Jordan Kooy. The puck deflected off Kooy, off the glass and bounced right back to the crease. By the time the Huskies' netminder found the puck it was in the back of the net, the only one of 29 T-Bird shots to get by him.
Near the end of a scoreless second, Sandhu nearly doubled UBC's lead when he was sprung on a two-on-one with
James Form with just three seconds left in the period. Kooy was able to make a glove save before being bowled over by his own defenceman.
Huskies forward Mark Rumsey nearly tied the game in the opening minutes of the third when his wrister rang off the crossbar.
Saskatchewan pressed late with Kooy on the bench for the extra attacker but they couldn't solve Lane as the 'Birds have now won three straight while pulling within four points of the Huskies with a chance to split the season series with another win Saturday.
"(Lane) was great, I think he's taken steps for us all year," added Playfair after Lane's third win in as many starts. "For first year guys it's a tough adjustment, and for a goalie that might be the toughest spot to come in and try to have an impact. For Kaeden, I think his first semester was a little bit of a learning curve and now I think he's excited, his body's ready, he wants to be in the net and tonight he was awesome. He made saves when he needed to, he talked to his defencemen and he was a solid base back there for everyone else to grow their game around. Then in the last few minutes, 6-on-5, you need your goalie to be your best player on the ice and he was a big piece of the win tonight."
Puck drop in the final regular season meeting between the 'Birds and Dogs is set for 5:00 p.m. PT at Merlis Belsher Place.
