VANCOUVER – The visiting Saskatchewan Huskies (11-3-0-0) completed a weekend sweep over the UBC Thunderbirds (11-3-0-0) with a hard-fought 4-3 win Saturday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. After a decisive 6-2 win over UBC on Friday night, the Saturday matchup was a much closer battle, but ultimately the Huskies were able to outlast the T-Birds as UBC failed to secure at least a weekend split for the first time since November 2022.

After a lopsided loss against the Huskies on Friday night, the T-Birds came out firing in the second game of the weekend series. Just under three minutes into the game, UBC captain Chris Douglas gave his team the start they were looking for, potting his fifth goal of the season past Huskies goaltender Jordan Kooy. The T-Birds would strike again just 17 seconds later as Jake Kryski tipped in his third goal of the season, to make it 2-0 early in the first period.

It took over seven minutes for the Huskies to record their first shot with UBC holding the balance of play. However, a strong Saskatchewan forecheck would eventually pay dividends. Dawson Holt and Liam Keeler created a turnover behind the UBC net leading to Carter Stebbings eventually batting a rebound out of mid-air past Kaeden Lane, cutting the T-Birds' lead in half.



"(UBC) played harder today," said Saskatchewan head coach Brantin Cote. "I know I don't like bye weeks, it gets you a bit out of rhythm, and that could've been the case for them. But they battled hard and it was a great game."

The Huskies would even the score in the second when Vince Loschiavo worked his way to the slot and unloaded a top-shelf shot past Lane. Just over a minute later, Lane denied Loschiavo his second goal of the game on a power play chance, keeping the game tied with a highlight-reel save.

UBC would reward their goalie's strong play when T-Birds defender Noah Form threaded a stretch pass to Ty Thorpe at the Huskies blueline. Thorpe corralled the puck, sped around an opposing defender and fed Jack Wismer who restored UBC's lead.

"For whatever reason we just could not get our game going," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon. "If we had a good shift or two, we couldn't make it three or four. If we got a one goal lead or two goal lead, we couldn't extend it."



Just under five minutes into the third period, the Huskies would even the score once again. Fourth-year forward Justin Ball picked up the puck in his own zone, weaved around UBC's defence and finished off an end-to-end rush with a hard shot that tipped off Lane's glove and into the net.

The T-Birds looked to respond as second-year defender Jake Lee started a rush from his own end and Josh Williams ripped a shot labeled for the top-shelf. However, Kooy made a showstopping glove save to keep the game tied.

"(Kooy) just battled," added Cote. "We wanted to get both guys in this weekend no matter what and he's worked hard, he's earned the opportunity to play. Early on, he was getting his feet under him and then he settled in and made some big saves, that one in particular was a highlight."

A late tripping penalty against UBC gave the Huskies an opportunity to take their first lead of the game. An initial Loschiavo shot ended up on the stick of Raphael Pelletier who potted his ninth goal of the season, the eventual game-winner. 



After being swept this weekend, the T-Birds drop from first to third place in the tight Canada West standings. Saskatchewan now holds the tie-break over the T-Birds and sit in second place heading into their bye week.

The schedule doesn't get any easier for UBC as they head to Calgary for a weekend series against the first place Dinos.

"They're the defending champions. In my opinion, they're the best team in our league," added Butenschon. "So, we better figure something out here, we better learn to be comfortable in tight games."

Puck drop for the first half of the weekend double dip is set for 6:00 p.m. PT on Friday, November 24 at Calgary's Father David Bauer Arena.