VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (4-4-1) earned a badly needed bounce back win in dominant fashion Friday night, defeating the Alberta Golden Bears (4-5) 5-0 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
A gritty effort from start to finish from the T-Birds,
Logan Doust finally broke the ice midway through the second period with his first of the season, allowing the floodgates to open shortly afterward.
Ewan Rennie added a power play goal early in the first to essentially put the game to bed at 4-0 with his first career Canada West marker while
Brendan Gee earned his first collegiate shutout making 16 saves to collect his second win of the season.
"Everybody was just laser focussed, they weren't going to be denied tonight because they just wanted it so badly," said UBC head coach,
Sven Butenschon shortly after his squad snapped their four-game losing skid. "And we weren't that far off, we were right in all these games recently, just a day late and a buck short on several plays. Today we made sure it wasn't going to be a one-goal game or a funny bounce. We just kept going and didn't take anything for granted, we didn't care about the score we just wanted to play our game."
The 'Birds weren't awarded with a goal in the first period, but they did plenty of grunt work to set the table for success.
Just seconds after winning an offensive zone draw, Doust tipped a
Kayden Sadhra-Kang point shot at 7:04 of the second period to break the deadlock.
Arjun Bawa doubled the lead with his first Canada West tally, a beautiful wrister popping the water bottle behind Beckett Langkow, making the Bears pay for a neutral zone turnover.
James Form got in on the action 47 seconds later with his first of the campaign after yet another Alberta turnover with Bawa collecting his second point of the night.
Rennie's first as a Thunderbird came just 77 seconds into the third, jamming home a loose puck in front of the crease on the power play.
For good measure,
Josh Williams scored his team-leading seventh of the season, finishing with a beautiful backhander after a solo rush up ice and breaking his way past the lone Alberta defender. Also earning an assist on Rennie's power play goal, Williams extended his point streak to eight games now with 14 points on the year tied for second in conference scoring.
While the offence was rolling for UBC, defensively the team was just as solid, as were special teams. Scoring on their only man advantage of the night, the 'Birds' penalty kill went a perfect 4-for-4, including a 67 second 5-on-3 in the middle of the third.
"Everyone was on their toes and active and confident and just simplified in certain areas," said Butenschon. "We know the ice here at Doug Mitchell is usually going to lead to a real grinding, follow the bouncing puck kind of game, and we were able to utilize that to our advantage."
"We have to be hungry for more points. We can't just get a split this weekend. Manitoba just won two games this weekend in Calgary and they're rolling. We have to recover, we have to put this game behind us and expect them to be better tomorrow and be ready again."
The final regular season contest between the 'Birds and Bears goes down Saturday at Father Bauer Arena with a 3:00 p.m. puck drop.
Tickets are available online now or at the door and the game will also be
streamed live on Canada West TV.
