VANCOUVER – The more than 5000 UBC fans in attendance for the annual Winter Classic Friday night all went home with a smile on their face as the No. 1 ranked Thunderbirds (19-2-3) laid an absolute beatdown on their cross-town rival Trinity Western Spartans (3-19-2) to the tune of a 9-1 domination.
The T-Birds scored four times in the opening period alone, three of them on the power play with the onslaught continuing in the second with three more tallies to get the home crowd rocking, including a
Reilley Kotai Michiganesque effort, his first of two goals on the night.
By the time the final buzzer sounded, the 'Birds had managed five goals on eight power plays while outshooting the Spartans by a 53-13 margin in perhaps the program's most dominant display in years.
"The way we came out, and I don't know if it was because of senior night or the Winter Classic, they really wanted to get the fans going," said UBC head coach,
Sven Butenschon, on the ferocious start his squad came out with Friday. "We talked about creating energy early to get the fans into it, but I didn't really expect us to be that sharp and confident with the puck. Execution was on point, it was really an incredible start and it kind of set the tone for the whole game."
The electricity was already in the building before puck drop and
Scott Atkinson's tally just 3:21 into the first, followed by
Jake Lee's power play tally little over two minutes later sent the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre into a frenzy.
Nathan Sullivan and
Jake Wright both scored on the man advantage to stake out the 4-0 lead through 20 minutes in what turned out to be just the beginning of the offensive showcase on offer.
"I thought that was probably the best energy in a Winter Classic I've seen in a few years," Butenschon added. "They were loud. That was really nice and I guess our early success really got the fans into it too."
Kotai's magnificent goal at the 6:37 mark of the second was followed by a superb drive to the net by
Matthew Smith who scored his second of the campaign.
Cyle McNabb's eighth converted the touchdown in the final minute of the middle period.
Fifth-year forward
Liam Kindree pushed the lead to 8-0 early in the final period with his fourth of the season and first since returning to the lineup from injury.
Kotai's second of the night and tenth of the season got UBC to nine goals in a game for the first time in nearly three full years.
On a night that also saw UBC's eight graduating seniors honoured prior to puck drop, seven of them found the scoresheet, led by
Sasha Mutala's three assists on the night which pushed the former Tri-City American into the Canada West scoring lead now with 38 points.
Trinity's lone goal spoiled
Cole Schwebius' shutout bid with just 17 seconds left when Lleyton Shearon's shot from the slot caught a piece of UBC's netminder but managed to sneak up off his shoulder and across the goal line.
Finishing the night with 12 saves, Schwebius collected his ninth win of the season and the 40
th of his Canada West career.
Ty Thorpe joined Mutala with three assists in the game while Kotai,
Jake Lee,
Josh Williams,
Jace Weir,
Jake Wright and
Cyle McNabb all finished with multiple points.
Now with four straight wins, the T-Birds have opened up a seven point gap over the Calgary Dinos for first overall in the conference with just four games remaining although their southern Alberta rivals do have two games in hand.
"We still got work to do, there's still a lot of hockey coming up, a lot of important games coming up. So now you got to stay sharp and stay focussed and don't ease up at all just because you had a big night."
The 'Birds will host the MacEwan Griffins for their final home series of the regular season next Friday and Saturday, January 30 and 31 at Father David Bauer Arena before closing out the campaign against the Golden Bears in Edmonton the following weekend.
