CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds scored twice on the power play and for all but a few moments in the third period, played one of their best games of the season to date, earning a 5-2 victory over the Mount Royal Cougars Friday night in Calgary.

Staking out a 4-0 lead by the end of the second period, the T-Birds (5-5-1) got into some penalty trouble in the third and allowed the Cougars (7-2) to creep back in, cutting their deficit to two goals by the midway point of the frame. But some good work on the penalty kill and a Josh Williams insurance marker helped UBC earn their first win of the season over the division rivals in their third try while getting back to the .500 mark.

"I thought we came out prepared, we came out disciplined, we came out with a ton of energy," said UBC head coach, Sven Butenschon, clearly impressed with the effort from his troops. "With this group, if we do that we give ourselves a chance to win. We had a lot of grade 'A' opportunities, their goalie held them in for a while but eventually we just kind of stuck to it and got a few past him."



Having allowed four goals on 26 shots through 40 minutes, MRU starter Shane Farkas spent the third period on the bench with Riley Sims playing the final frame in relief.

At the other end of the ice, the T-Birds limited the Cougars to just 20 total shots while Cole Schwebius made 18 saves for his third win of the season.

Sasha Mutala scored the only goal of the opening 20 minutes, his third of the season, on a tip from the low slot on the power play with little over a minute on the clock. It was a just reward for a dominant opening period by the T-Birds who outshot the hosts by a 13-2 margin.



Conner McDonald doubled UBC's lead with their second man advantage goal of the game at the 5:49 mark of the second. Liam Kindree finally got the monkey off his back with his first of the season six minutes later, a one-timer blast from the right circle off a Mutala feed.

Jack Wismer added his second of the year less than two minutes after Kindree's marker to give the 'Birds the mammoth lead heading to the final period.

The sense of urgency seemed to shift over to the Cougars to begin the third with Tim Gould rewarded with his second of the season to get MRU on the board at the 2:14 mark.



Clay Hanus scored on the power play at 9:19, his fourth as the division leading Cougars tried to sow some doubt on the T-Birds bench.

But UBC got back to work, and got a goal back with Williams' second of the year at the 12:06 mark while salting away the remainder of the game.

"I think there was a sense of urgency and maybe a little bit of panic right from the opening faceoff and that's why we were so intense and fired up," said Butenschon, glad to see his team respond after a lacklustre finish to the previous weekend. "The juices were flowing and when they got some power play opportunities and they scored, we were a little bit juiced up and I think the panic was there a little bit, but we controlled it."

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Handing the Cougars just their second loss of the campaign, the T-Birds now have the opportunity to even the season series with Mount Royal on Saturday.

"It's massive. I think the boys knew this was a four-point weekend. We came here to get two wins on a business trip and we're going to get it done."

Puck drop for the weekend series finale is set for 4:00 p.m. PT from Flames Community Arenas. The game will be streamed live on Canada West TV.