VANCOUVER – Playing in front of more than 4800 fans at the Winter Classic Friday night, the UBC Thunderbirds gave the crowd more than plenty to cheer about as they earned a 5-1 victory over the Trinity Western Spartans, extending their win streak to nine games.
Jake Lee surpassed his rookie season point total with a pair of goals and a helper while
Cole Schwebius earned his 11
th win in net in as many starts.
"It took us a while to really find our game," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon after his team equalled last year's program record single-season win total with their 20
th. "Fighting the puck a little bit, maybe nerves or bad ice. And again, Trinity plays really well defensively and blocks a lot of shots. They battle and compete right to the end. It just took us a while and again, same as last night, we got to stick to the game plan and our depth always seems to come through when we need it."
Following a bit of a listless start to the opening period, things got a bit chippy as things progressed while Lee opened scoring with his 10
th of the season and third in as many games.
After an initial shot by Lee was blocked, the second year blueliner banked the puck off the end boards to
Tian Rask who played it back out to the slot where this time Lee got it past Leon Sommer to get the Winter Classic crowd roaring.
The Spartans (2-17-1) took some air out of the near capacity building just 24 seconds into the second when Daine Dubois took advantage of a T-Birds (20-4) defensive zone turnover, tying the game with his fourth of the season.
Emotions continued to run hotter as the game progressed leading to penalties on both sides, but a big credit to the T-Birds who by and large kept their composure against a Spartans squad intent on trying to put the blue and gold off their game.
"It's not easy, that's for sure," said Butenschon on fighting through a gritty battle like Friday's Winter Classic. "We got guys that are highly skilled that want to make plays. And when you're playing against a team like that, it's easy to get frustrated. So it's always a challenge to stay positive sand don't get too frustrated."
Liam Kindree scored what turned out to be the game winner on the power play midway through the second with his team-leading 14
th.
Ty Thorpe doubled the 'Birds' lead with just over four minutes remaining in the period. The first year ripped home his eighth from the slot off a centring feed by
Cyle McNabb.
In a familiar storyline, UBC took the game over in the third, outshooting the Spartans by a 17-6 margin and putting the game essentially out of reach with a pair of goals less than three minutes apart. Lee struck again at the 3:05 mark and
Jonathan Smart got the crowd roaring again with his fourth.
By the final buzzer the T-Birds had outshot the visitors 57-17 while going a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill for a second straight game.
"We got a team that takes pride in conditioning. We got a great strength and conditioning team here that makes sure in these kind of games, that's going to be the difference. The league is so competitive and so close, so many good teams that everything you do out there matters. We take pride in the conditioning and the style of play we play, we want to wear teams down."
Schwebius' win between the pipes improves the second year netminder's record to a perfect 11-0 while upping his season save percentage to a very impressive .927 along with a 1.53 goals against average, both tops in the conference.
The win ensures the 'Birds will head into their bye week still alone atop the Canada West. UBC will make good use of their break with two tough weekend series to close out the regular season starting with a trip to Clare Drake Arena to face the Alberta Golden Bears February 2 and 3 before returning home the following weekend to host the Mount Royal Cougars.
