CALGARY – Despite outshooting the hosts by nearly a 2:1 margin, the UBC Thunderbirds suffered their first defeat of the Canada West season, 4-3 to the Mount Royal Cougars Friday night at Flames Community Arena.
Staking out an early first period lead on
Carson Miller's third goal in the last four games, the T-Birds (10-1) appeared to be off and running in an opening frame where they outshot MRU 18-8. But the lead lasted all of nine minutes and they were never able to regain it, dropping their first regular season game since November 26 last year, also against the Cougars.
"We talked about having a better start, being better prepared, not waiting for the third period to really turn it on and we did that," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon. "We came out, we threw 12 pucks on net the first ten minutes with multiple scoring chances. Their goalie stood on his head and kept them in it. We had a couple little breakdowns throughout the game and they capitalized but for the most part it was a really good effort by the guys, we just couldn't find the back of the net."
After Robbie Holmes tied the game for MRU (7-2) with seven minutes remaining in the first with his team-leading seventh of the season, the red light went dark until well into the second period when Clayton Hanus gave the Cougars the lead at the 17:21 mark.
Jake Lee got the T-Birds back on even terms with just one second remaining in the period on his fourth of the season.
Once again owning the lion's share of chances in the final period, the 'Birds struggled to solve Mount Royal goaltender Shane Farkas who finished the night with 39 saves.
With just over five minutes remaining in the third, Tristan Zandee scored the go-ahead marker with his second of the campaign.
Showing yet more resilience, the T-Birds battled back to tie the game once again on
Liam Kindree's sixth with just under four minutes remaining.
But when
Ben Keon was called for roughing with just over three minutes on the clock, the Cougars sensed their opportunity to seal the game in regulation and they did just that with Hanus scoring his second of the game, the only special teams goal of the evening on what stood up as the winner.
With their program record streak snapped, the T-Birds will look for the weekend split to get back into the win column they've been so used to filling up when they close out the two-game series Saturday at 4:00 p.m. PT.
"I think we need to expect them to be better so just playing the same way may not be enough," Butenschon added. "We got to dig in and just find a way. I know it's cliché but we've been able to stick to our game plan throughout momentum swings during games and it's got us a lot of success. Now we've lost momentum and position in the standings and a number int eh loss column, how do we respond? Who are we, are we guys that are pissed off at the way things went today and will not be denied tomorrow or are we going to feel sorry for ourselves and try to find excuses. It will be a good test for us."
The game will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
