EDMONTON – For the first time in decades, the UBC Thunderbirds (5-1) went into Clare Drake Arena and swept the Alberta Golden Bears (4-2) thanks to a 5-2 victory Saturday night.
After falling down early, the 'Birds scored twice with a 16-second span midway through the first, part of five consecutive tallies to once again stun the Bears faithful en route to a fifth straight win.
The second straight dominant T-Birds victory saw UBC outshoot the Bears by a 34-22 margin with
Cole Schwebius making 20 saves for his second win of the season.
"We were on a mission this weekend and we really prepared extremely well," said UBC head coach,
Sven Butenschon, following the statement series. "We have a bye next week and so we kind of threw all our chips on the table and wanted to go toe-to-toe with these guys. I think we were still looking to find another level and take another step as a group because it still hasn't been good enough and we still have some work to do, but I think it was nice to see it come together here."
The Bears opened scoring early on the power play when Adam Hall netted his third of the season at 7:45 of the first period.
Alberta's early momentum was short-lived though as just over three minutes later,
Reilley Kotai responded for UBC, tying the game 1–1 on a far side shot that got past Drew Sim.
Just 16 seconds later, the Thunderbirds struck again with
Jake Lee giving UBC their first lead of the game, finishing with his fourth of the season after an ankle-breaking deke past Dawson Davidson.
Having outshot the Bears 12-5 in the opening 20 minutes, the 'Birds picked up right where they left off in the second when
Jake Wright extended the lead to 3-1 with his third of the season, just 91 seconds into the period. The third-year forward one-timed a cross-ice feed from
Ty Thorpe, chasing Sim from the game with Ethan Barwick entering in relief.
The goalie change for Alberta was mostly in vain as the 'Birds added two more in the period to break open a 5-1 lead heading to the third.
Jace Weir scored his second in the blue and gold on a point shot on the power play at 3:26 while fifth-year forward
Cyle McNabb got his first of the season just over three minutes later, winning a puck battle in the corner and then heading to the net to pop home a rebound.
Alberta showed some resolve in the third but only managed to get one more past Schwebius when Mason Ward scored his second of the season with less than five minutes to play.
13 different skaters found the scoresheet for UBC Saturday night with every forward line contributing.
"Getting (McNabb) back this weekend just kind of solidifies the veteran depth throughout the lineup," Butenschon said. "Kotai in the middle with (Ben) Kotylak and
James Form has been really reliable and I trust those guys out there. They go out there and they do their job and when you have a fourth line that does that every night, it's a great little anchor. And you got three lines that arguably could be other teams' top lines. There's so much skill on those top nine spots right now. We're healthy, we're rolling, everybody's contributing, everybody stepped up this weekend and played a part in the two wins."
Now in sole possession of first place in the west division and tied with the Calgary Dinos for the conference lead, the T-Birds will get some rest entering a bye week before resuming play at home on Halloween. UBC will play host to the Regina Cougars October 31 and November 1 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
