CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds (3-4-1) saw their current losing streak extend to four games with a 3-1 road loss to the Mount Royal Cougars (7-1) Saturday afternoon at Flames Community Arenas.
Another tightly fought contest, the 'Birds got on the board with another
Josh Williams power play goal in the second period, cutting their deficit to one. But despite seven power play attempts on the night and a push in the third period, the Cougars held on, adding a late empty netter to sweep the weekend series.
"We're just not generating enough at the other end, we're spending a little too much time defending and we just don't seem to have that final touch around the net," said a frustrating UBC head coach,
Sven Butenschon. "It's been interesting watching this group, how hard we're battling and how well we're playing away from the puck. Even the years when we're in first place and winning most nights, I don't remember us limiting our opponent to as few scoring chances as we are right now."
The Cougars struck twice in the opening period, Ruslan Jamaldinov scoring his second of the weekend at the 7:07 mark followed by Harry Ahlberg's third just outside the final minute.
Williams' sixth of the season came 6:10 into the second period, extending the fifth-year forward's point streak to seven games with a deflection in front off a
Brayden Schuurman feed.
But the 'Birds just couldn't generate any more offence while Vaughn Watterodt hit the empty net with just 16 seconds left to put the icing on the cake for the Cougars who have now won five straight.
"1-for-7 just isn't good enough, and it's not just 1-for-7, it's going off script too much, not creating enough chances, not getting momentum on some of those," Butenschon lamented his squad's power play which has now dipped to a still respectable 21.6 per cent on the season. "We just never even looked like a threat. You want to score for sure, but you got to at least look like a threat."
Brendan Gee made 18 saves while being tagged with the loss while MRU goaltender Ethan Bonaventura stopped 24 to pick up his first win of the season.
The 'Birds will be back home next Friday and Saturday to host the Alberta Golden Bears with a chance to get off the schneid and back into the win column for the first time since sweeping the Spartans in mid-October.
"The positive is, we're doing things that are really hard. We're playing patient, almost playoff style hockey. Lots of desperation, lots of respect for our opponent, preparation to play, practice habits, attention to detail. As coaches, it's really hard to have a team fully bought in and our buy-in is there. We can tinker maybe a little bit with the lineup, we can try to generate offence from other areas like our defence or down the lineup…we're going to have to be creative."
Puck drop Friday, November 13 vs the Bears is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre with Saturday's rematch scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Father Bauer Arena.
Tickets are available online now or at the door.
