LANGLEY, B.C. –
Jake Lee and
Sasha Mutala both finished with four points as the UBC Thunderbirds (3-1) completed the home-and-home sweep over the Trinity Western Spartans (0-4) with a dominant 6-2 victory Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.
Twice the Spartans battled back to cut into the T-Bird deficit, but in both cases UBC was able to answer back and then some.
Cole Schwebius earned his first win of the season making 18 saves as the T-Birds have now won three in a row.
"Everything's starting to come together. It's still early on in the year, we're trying to figure out a few things so every time we step on the ice you have to take another step and I thought we did that tonight," said UBC head coach,
Sven Butenschon following a successful first road game of the regular season. "It started with our intensity on the opening faceoff. There was no complacency, we were hungry, we were like a dog on a bone. We got enough skill to score goals and take care of offence and we had that layer of gritty, competitive willingness to do whatever it takes."
Lee got the party started midway through the first when he collected his own rebound and tucked in a wraparound past Leon Sommer.
Mutala scored his second of the season four minutes later at 15:45, a long-range, precision wrist shot on the power play to give UBC a 2-0 lead heading to the second.
Artem Hrabovetskyi got the Spartans on the board with his first of the season 2:13 into the middle frame, but the T-Birds responded quickly, restoring the two-goal advantage just 74 seconds later. Jacob Wright sniped short side past Sommer for his second in as many games.
UBC captain
Chris Douglas earned his first of the campaign five minutes later finishing off a beautiful tic-tac-toe for the 'Birds' second power play goal of the night.
Before the period was out, the Spartans got a power play goal of their own, Mikahilo Simchuk with his team-leading third of the season with less than two minutes left in the frame.
Early in the third the T-Birds once again extended their lead to three with
Alex Serraglio's first of the season, a sharp, short-side wrister to give him points in three straight.
Fittingly, Lee bookended scoring with his second of the game at 14:38, moving the puck around the offensive zone at will while waiting for
Reilley Kotai to provide a screen in front.
"Guys like that don't come around too often," Butenschon said of Lee who completed his first four-point game as a T-Bird. "When he's going, he's got the size, the strength, the skating, the skillset to be a real special player. Tonight, when he really digs in on defence and goes back on pucks, the other team has no chance to get pucks back to get a forecheck, to get any kind of momentum because once he gets the puck you can't take it off him."
Like Lee, Mutala's four-point effort was his first in the blue and gold. The fourth-year forward is also a key part of anything UBC wants to achieve this season, as are the likes of Douglas,
Scott Atkinson and
Josh Williams, all of whom found the scoresheet Saturday.
"Some of those older guys, they haven't got on the scoresheet as much as they wanted so there's a lot of self-awareness and pride. They want to get in on the fun too so, they really dug in tonight and led the way."
The T-Birds will head out of province for the first time this regular season next weekend to visit the undefeated Alberta Golden Bears for what's to be a true test for both of the top two west division squads.
Puck drop Friday, October 17 at Clare Drake Arena is set for 6:00 p.m. PT. The game will be available live on
Canada West TV.
