EDMONTON – Despite seizing the zone time advantage and the chances of a second straight night, the UBC Thunderbirds found themselves on the wrong side of a one-goal game, losing 4- 3 against the Golden Bears on Saturday night at the Clare Drake Arena. After entering the weekend winning six straight games to start the young Canada West season, the Birds left Alberta with their first two losses.
Daneel Lategan and Gary Haden scored two goals for the Golden Bears as they were aided by a 26-save performance from rookie goaltender Nick Schneider, who competed as a Canada West leader in the GAA among the qualifications.
Haden’s goals came in his third and fourth of the year, pushing him up to 5e place in the Canada West rookie scoring race in what was an impressive start to his first campaign.
Lategan’s two goals, his sixth and seventh, tie him for 3e place in the overall Canada West scorers race.
Victory Holds Bears 5e place on the CW standings and are the winners of four consecutive games – all against opponents in the U SPORTS Top 10.
The Thunderbirds’ phenomenal start, undefeated in six straight games heading to this weekend, ends with the Bears sweeping the first series between the two since 2020.
The opening frame started off quietly, with both teams flaunting their athleticism and forward failure that each led them to their top ten U SPORTS standings. However, two UBC rookies would make their mark in the middle of the period. The opening salvo was a shot from the tip of Chris Douglas, which was his third in four games. Then, after a Lategan crosscheck less than a minute later, Scott Atkinson scored his second of the year on the power play to start the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.
While the Bears outscored the Thunderbirds 13-10, UBC had most of the scoring opportunities.
Just like the Tune Squad of Space jam came out of halftime and gave the Monstars a whole different look, it turned out that head coach Ian Herbers had his own secret tips for giving the Bears a jerk ahead of the second.
Alberta not only tied the game, but was 3-2 second. Led by two goals from Haden, in quick succession, and a snipe early in the period from Lategan. The Bears have outscored the visitors 16-8 this period, with Schneider putting aside all eight that have come his way.
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HADEN AGAIN! Two goals in under three minutes for Haden, and the Bears have a 3-2 lead! pic.twitter.com/cS6KqLSB9l
– Golden Bear Hockey (@GBHKY) November 21, 2021
The third period lived up to the narrative of the game and the series so far, where the final scores were decided by one goal each. It was a shaky Alberta lead for the first half of the period, as were the many swinging cup pyramids found along Clare Drake’s boards tonight. That was until Lategan exposed his silky hands, scoring and scoring at 9:34 in what ended up being the game-winner.
UBC returned to the set soon after, with a high-end snipe on the blade of Jake kryski a pass from his captain Tyler sandhu. That would be all they could muster, however, as the Golden Bears have largely shut down any remaining chances of retaining the win.
The Bears are back in action next weekend against the Manitoba Bisons (2-6-1) at home, while the Thunderbirds fly to Vancouver to face the Saskatchewan Huskies (7-1- 0) at the top of the conference and ranked U SPORT n ° 2 (7-1-0).
