VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds have clinched a berth in the Canada West playoffs after securing the weekend – and season series – sweep over the Manitoba Bisons with a 5-2 win Saturday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Similar to the night before, the 'Birds and Bisons were tied up heading into the final period with UBC (14-6-2) eventually wearing down the visitors with a trio of goals including captain Chris Douglas' game winner which capped off a six point weekend for the second year forward.
"They battled really hard, their one-on-one play was outstanding," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon of the Bisons' effort Saturday. "They played physically, they kept us to the outside but I think we like that. I love our grit, I love our character and that's the kind of game our guys like. The challenge of those is it's not going to be easy so you can't change, you can't waver off the game plan so by the time the third period rolls around you can capitalize off your depth and the dam will eventually break."
Just past the five minute mark of the third, Jonny Lambos held the zone with a keep-in at the blue line before dishing the puck to Douglas who roofed a wrister past Simon Harkness for his fifth goal of the season and third in his last three games.
Despite the Bisons (7-14-1) in desperate need of the equalizer to avoid a sixth straight loss, the T-Birds limited Manitoba to just six shots in the final period while adding on a pair of late goals to seal the victory.
Jack Wismer completed a beautiful tic-tac-toe play on a three-on-one with Jake Kryski and Josh Williams with just under five minutes to play for his seventh of the season. Williams then hit the empty net for his fifth goal of the season and second three-point game of his rookie campaign after also assisting on Tian Rask's game-tying tally in the second period.
"Last night you had (Scott Atkinson's) line doing the damage and fixing a lot of stuff and we said 'don't wait for another line to do it', we can't always have one line playing and saving the day," Butenschon said referencing Saturday's six points from the Williams-Kryski-Wismer line. "So the challenge today was don't wait for anybody else to do it, you go do it. So those guys really took it to heart."
For the second straight game the Bisons opened scoring, this time just 2:58 in when Jonny Hooker earned his fourth of the season from a rebound in tight off a Ryan Gottfried point shot.
The T-Birds got on the board just 29 seconds into the second when Cyle McNabb scored his third shorthanded goal of the season and 11th overall. The second-year forward intercepted an errant Bisons pass in UBC's zone and got on his horse, breaking through Manitoba's defencemen and beating Harkness far side.
Manitoba managed to make amends later during their four-minute advantage when Hayden Ostir scored his fifth, popping home a Parker Malchuk point-shot rebound.
But after Ostir's tally it was all UBC with the T-Birds scoring the final four goals of the game, including Rask's sixth, a deflection in front from Connor McDonald's shot from the point.
Dorrin Luding got his third win of the season in goal for the 'Birds making 22 saves as UBC outshot the Bisons by a whopping 53-24 margin.
"That felt like last year where it was a good game for two periods, back-and-forth, and then in the third period we just found another level and teams had trouble keeping up. Defencemen had trouble containing our forwards, we played in the offensive zone and then when we got a lead we protected the lead by playing down there, we weren't sitting back and protecting. So it definitely had a vibe from last year."
Locking up a post-season spot for the 11
th consecutive season, the 'Birds are now clear ahead of the Saskatchewan Huskies for the fourth and final home playoff berth.
The T-Birds fly to Edmonton next weekend where they'll take on the MacEwan Griffins for their final road series of the regular season. The Bisons will head home to Winnipeg where they'll host the Trinity Western Spartans, the T-Birds' opponent the following week.
