VANCOUVER – For the first time since 1971 the UBC Thunderbirds completed a playoff series sweep, dispatching the Regina Cougars 7-0 in game two of their Canada West quarter-final series Saturday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Liam Kindree scored his second of the playoffs and added four assists for a five point game and a seven point series while
Cole Schwebius made 32 saves for his first career playoff shutout as the T-Birds advance to face the Alberta Golden Bears in a semifinal series next weekend.
"Things are going so well, you don't want to get sloppy, you don't want to change anything, you don't want to think you're better than you are," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon, referencing his team's workman like mentality the entire weekend. "We get all our success from just grinding and working hard and forechecking and forcing turnovers from the other team's defence because of our relentless forecheck. So it was great to get the two wins, come out of it unscathed, take the day off tomorrow, rejuvenate on Monday and start building for next week."
Eerily similar to game one Friday night, the T-Birds earned an early first period power play and capitalized, this time with captain
Chris Douglas' first of the playoffs. Kindree threaded a pass cross-ice, down low to Douglas who had a wide open net to tap in UBC's fourth power play goal of the series.
Less than three minutes later, at the 5:58 mark,
Josh Williams doubled the T-Birds lead with his first of the playoffs. A tic-tac-toe passing play put Williams in alone on a late break on Adam Evanoff and the rookie forward backhanded the puck over the Regina netminder's blocker.
Working on a 3-0 lead to start the second after
Tian Rask scored his first of the playoffs late in the opening frame, the 'Birds faced some pushback from the Cougars who outshot UBC 13-6 in the period and had a number of high quality chances and a trio of power plays. But more terrific penalty killing, led by Schwebius' stellar play in goal, saw the 'Birds fend off the visitors' push and only add to their lead when Kindree scored his second of the weekend with just over four minutes remaining.
Jonathan Smart found Kindree from the point, placing a picture-perfect pass right on his forward's tape and the former Kelowna Rocket released the puck high, past Evanoff's glove to open up a 4-0 lead heading into the third.
Just 1:15 into the final period, the 'Birds scored their second of three power play goals on the night with Douglas' second of the game.
Williams earned his first of the playoffs at the 7:07 mark on a one-timer from Kindree and
Sasha Mutala closed out UBC's scoring with just under two minutes to play, benefitting from another gorgeous Kindree feed, perhaps his finest, as he stickhandled around one Cougar, then passed behind another to Mutala who scored his second in as many games. Williams picked up the second assist to end the night with four points of his own.
"They had some moments and we got a little bit sloppy in the second period," added Butenschon of Regina's push to try to claw back into the series. "I thought
Cole Schwebius stood on his head and made some unbelievable saves and that settled us down a little bit. They pushed back, we got some nice goals. We were hemmed in our zone for a few minutes and then we go down and execute a really nice play. It was good to get the transition goals, most of the time we're grinding down below the dots so it's nice to add some different kind of looks."
All told, the T-Birds finished the weekend 6-for-15 on the power play while keeping Regina off the board on 11 attempts. It was as complete a two-game performance as UBC has put together all season long and at the most important time, punching their ticket to Edmonton for a semifinal matchup with the Golden Bears.
Next weekend will mark the third straight postseason featuring a playoff matchup with Alberta as UBC will look to earn a berth in the Canada West Final – and the U SPORTS National Championship – for a third consecutive year.
Game one is set for Friday, February 24 at Clare Drake Arena.
