VANCOUVER – Scoring five goals for a third straight game, the UBC Thunderbirds earned a third straight win with a 5-1 victory over the Calgary Dinos, kicking off a four-game home stand in dominant fashion.
Breaking out a 3-0 lead by the early stages of the second period, the T-Birds (7-5-1) never really gave the Dinos (6-4-1) more than a brief sniff, limiting the visitors to just 15 total shots including two in the final period. Now with five wins in their last six games, the 'Birds have leapfrogged Calgary for sole possession of second place in the extremely tight West Division.
"We were a little bit dopey to start, kind of weathered a bit of the storm and then once we got going we found our legs and our puck management was really good tonight," said UBC head coach,
Sven Butenschon, after his team earned their first win over Calgary since last year's Canada West Final. "I just liked our overall energy. Sometimes it takes a hit or two for you to wake up and realize I got to move the puck faster, I got to get to my spot quicker, and that's what you saw out there. I loved how both teams were physical throughout, no matter what the score or situation. Both teams were playing honest, hard hockey."
A physical opening period, which came as little surprise to anyone who has paid attention to this rivalry in recent years, saw the Thunderbirds slowly take control after the Dinos held the early edge in puck possession and offensive zone time.
Josh Williams got the T-Birds on the board with his fourth of the season at the 12:36 mark. Carl Tetachuk made the initial save off a deflection from a
Matthew Smith point shot, but the third-year T-Bird put his own rebound past the Dinos netminder for his third goal in as many games.
Tian Rask doubled UBC's lead with just 20 seconds remaining in the first with a sharp angle try that snuck in short side.
Sasha Mutala took a beautiful spin-o-rama centring feed from
Sam Huo early in the second to extend UBC's lead to 3-0, the two former Tri-City American teammates connecting at the 2:42 mark.
The Dinos got one back on what proved to be their only goal of the contest at 15:34 when Dinos captain Noah King scored his second of the season with a point shot on the power play.
But UBC restored their three-goal advantage just 46 seconds later with Huo's team-leading sixth of the season.
Jake Lee stole the puck high in the offensive zone and fed it to the slot for Huo who snapped it over Tetachuk's glove.
Lee earned his second assist of the night on
Cyle McNabb's second of the season five-and-a-half minutes into the third. The former Vancouver Giant snuck one short side past Tetachuk who spent the rest of the night on the bench, replaced by Connor Martin who stopped all seven shots he faced.
It was Lee's first game back in UBC's lineup since October 18, missing the previous month due to a nagging injury. But the 2023 All-Canadian blue liner certainly didn't look like he had missed a beat.
"He was so excited to play the last few days in practice," said Butenschon. "This morning when I saw him at the rink here I was a little bit worried he was going to get too jacked up and too excited and was maybe going to push limits. But he played very smart and didn't get himself into trouble. I love it when the D plays simple, they see an open guy and they move it and he did that and I thought defensively he was outstanding too. The D core looked a little more together, a little more solid back there tonight with him."
Cole Schwebius played his part perfectly as the defending Canada West Player of the Week, putting together another solid night between the pipes making 14 saves for his fifth straight win.
Snapping Calgary's four-game win streak and now with five wins in their last six games, the T-Birds continue to build momentum with a chance to even up their season series with the Dinos Saturday afternoon.
"I know our schedule's been real tough, but sometimes in hockey you're better when you're playing a lot. We have the bye week next week, we've been going ten straight weeks; we got a nice rhythm going right now and we've managed our energy and we've been cautious of the workload, so we got a good routine going and it's kind of paying off."
Puck drop for the final home tilt this regular season against the Dinos is set for 3:00 p.m. Saturday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Tickets are available now and the game will also be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
