EDMONTON – Less than 24 hours after posting a resounding victory over the MacEwan Griffins, the UBC Thunderbirds had the tables turned on them, suffering a 5-1 defeat Saturday afternoon splitting the weekend series at Edmonton's Downtown Community Arena.
Rookie Griffins goaltender Carson Ironside made 32 saves on the afternoon to earn his first Canada West win in his first start while MacEwan scored their five goals on just 15 shots, the last of which hit the empty net with just under four minutes remaining.
"They played hard, they played gritty, they played a very defensive game and we just couldn't seem to break through," said UBC head coach,
Sven Butenschon, shortly after the loss. "I think they tightened things up and they just closed on us a bit faster and we couldn't get our skill game going. We competed and battled good enough I guess, but I'm kind of disappointed in our inability to make plays. The top teams in any league, they're able to make plays with skill and if our skill isn't showing up then our battle and compete and our grit and defensive game has to be elite. They beat us in those areas so the combo is not a good recipe for success."
The game marked MacEwan's (4-4) first-ever home win over the Thunderbirds (4-5-1), following a road overtime triumph they had over UBC during the 2022-23 season.
Marc Pasemko led the way for the Griffins with two goals, while rookie Caden Cabana enjoyed the first multi-point effort of his university career with a goal and an assist. Kadyn Chabot had two helpers to stretch his team scoring lead to nine points in eight games.
Pasemko opened the scoring with 3:37 left in the first period when his wrister from the left circle trickled through UBC netminder
Brett Mirwald.
Liam Ryan's long-range shot 11:05 into the second did the same thing, somehow eluding Mirwald to put MacEwan up 2-0.
After
Carson Latimer finally got the T-Birds on the board later in the frame on a power play snipe, his fourth goal of the campaign, the Griffins got two huge saves in a row from Ironside as he stopped Latimer on a breakaway and snuffed out another clean break by
Chris Douglas with a blocker stop.
Despite outshooting the Griffins 10-5 in the final period, the 'Birds weren't able to get another past Ironside as UBC falls back below .500, failing to gain further ground on the idle Dinos as both remain tied for second in the West Division, five points back of the leading Mount Royal Cougars – the T-Birds' next opponent.
"We need to take a pretty massive step forward if we want to end up where we want to go," added Butenschon. "So, it's a pivotal point here in the schedule and we needed those points, but it just makes the next four games even more impactful. You can really make a move if you win those divisional games so we have a massive, massive opportunity in front of us and we need to figure things out."
The 'Birds are right back on the road to Alberta next weekend to kick off their weekend series with MRU starting Friday at 6:00 p.m. PT at Flames Community Arenas. Both games will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
