VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds were quite simply full value for a 4-1 win over the Alberta Golden Bears Saturday afternoon, splitting the weekend series while handing the visitors their first loss of the Canada West season.
Second-year forward
Ty Thorpe had himself a three-point afternoon with a pair of goals, including the game winner, while
Cole Schwebius was spectacular in goal making 24 saves for his first win of the year.
It's hard to pinpoint an area of the game in which the T-Birds (3-4-1) were not at their best, scoring on the power play, going a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and winning the majority of puck battles all game long.
"When times aren't going too well, you got to go with your horses, let your veterans take charge and say 'enough's enough,'" said UBC Head Coach,
Sven Butenschon, who was ecstatic to get the win, but even more so for how it was earned. "I thought Scotty (Atkinson) and (
Chris Douglas) did that early on and then the rest of the team kind of followed. Thorpy, (
Jake Wright), (Cyle) McNabb were just dynamic out there. Thorpy had an unbelievable weekend, but that line was just spectacular tonight."
Douglas opened scoring for the 'Birds 6:09 into the first, one-timing his second of the season on the power play off a beautiful cross-ice pass by
Carson Latimer.
Sean Tschigerl evened things up early in the second with his sixth after Brett Hyland picked up a loose puck behind the net and quickly fed it out front.
The 'Birds regained their lead at the 16:16 mark with Thorpe's first of the afternoon. A
Conner McDonald point shot was stopped by Tyler Palmer but Thorpe was able to jam home the rebound.
Wright kept his hot streak rolling with his third of the season to give UBC some key insurance midway through the third. The play all started with
Cyle McNabb hustling to beat out an icing call and keep the play alive in the Alberta (7-1) zone. Several moments later, Thorpe jammed the puck loose off the boards and found Wright alone in the slot who let a quick shot go, glove-side past Palmer.
With the Alberta net empty, Thorpe finished his first Canada West career three-point game by hitting the empty net with 22 seconds on the clock.
"If we want any long term success, we need to do those things," said Butenschon of his team's attention to detail all game long. "We've been having a little bit of trouble generating scoring chances and filling the net with pucks so we just got to continue to play that kind of hockey which is almost like playoff hockey, in October. But, man, when you look at all the analytics it's very little happening out there, it's all proper position, pucks on the outside, no odd-man rushes."
The 'Birds will also value two points, but perhaps just a little bit more against their long-time rivals from Northern Alberta.
"We're trying to make it about us and when we play the right way and to our full potential, we can beat anybody. So it does feel pretty good beating the Alberta Golden Bears just because they are a perennial powerhouse, but a win's a win and we need points. After the slow start, bank those points and try to continue to grow and build."
The 'Birds won't be back home now until November 15 with back-to-back road trips to Alberta over the next two weeks, starting next Friday in Edmonton against the MacEwan Griffins.
