Austin Vetterl knew the pass was coming. Talking over the phone this past spring, the UBC forward felt confident he could break up the play and secure the series-clinching victory against the Mount Royal University Cougars.
“I remember it was 4-3, there was five seconds left [and] they had the puck against the wall and I kind of walked out,” he starts. "And I just thought for sure that ‘there’s no way he’s making this pass across.’”
The UBC forward was on the right side of the ice, and with the puck on the opposite side, positioned himself so the pass would be intercepted. Intercepting the pass would mean securing a win for his team, a win that would allow T-Birds to advance in the playoffs for the first time in Vetterl’s career.
With seconds remaining in the game, the Mount Royal player made the pass. The pass sailed through the air and across to the opposite side of the ice, making its way through Vetterl and onto the stick of a Mount Royal forward. Caught out of position, Vetterl desperately dove to block the shot. Yet the puck was already in the back of the net. The score was now 1-1 with only a second left to play.
His head down on the ice, Vetterl could not believe what just happened.
“Watching that puck go in with one second left it was heartbreaking because for four years [UBC has] lost in the first round and I think we lost two, last two seasons in [the deciding] game,” he says.
“I thought that we had that game won right there and [to watch] that puck go in-it was obviously heartbreaking.”
The T-Birds were now in familiar territory. The previous year the team had hosted the Cougars in the playoffs and lost. After the game tying goal, it felt like history would repeat itself and those playoffs demons would continue to haunt the team.
At the start of the year, some people believed that the team could win the conference, maybe even qualify for nationals.
In their first game against the University of Alberta Golden Bears, the T-Birds blew a 3-2 lead in the third period and lost in overtime. The following night they lost again to Alberta, 5-0.
That second game included UBC forward Matt Revel leaving with an injury, and as their bench shortened, the team struggled to win. By mid-January, UBC had one of the lowest winning percentages in all of U Sports hockey.
Things changed in 2020. Two wins over the University of Manitoba Bisons, including a decisive 6-2 victory in the Winter Classic, put UBC back into the playoff race. The T-Birds carried the momentum in the final six games of the season, picking up three more wins in the process. Hosting Mount Royal in the final two games then provided an early playoff preview, and after splitting the games, the T-Birds knew it was going to be another tight series like in 2019.
“It was kind of a rematch,“ Vetterl said. “Most of the guys from their team came back so we were looking at the same team [as in 2019]”
“We played them hard for five years since I’ve been here. We’ve played them a couple times in the playoffs and we knew what they’re about. We knew they were going to come out and work hard.”
Despite being the visiting team, The T-Birds jumped on the Cougars in the first game. After trading goals in the first two periods, UBC pulled away from the Cougars in the third period thanks to a pair of goals from forward Colton Kehler and solid performance from goalie, Rylan Toth.
“Our goaltending was unbelievable,” UBC defenseman Kyle Becker said. “That always helps and plays a big factor in a series like that.”
The Cougars played desperate in the second game. Less than a minute into the game, Mount Royal forward Ryley Lindgren opened the scoring and would go on to score three more games, giving his team the 5-3 win and tying the series.
Yet the T-Birds came out flying in the final game of the series. Within the first ten minutes, the T-Birds scored three times to take an early 3-0 lead. After the team traded goals, UBC took a 4-2 lead into the third period.
“We were in command of that game the whole way through,” Vetterl said. “It felt like every time the game was about to be over we gave them a chance to come back and win the game.”
During the last ten minutes of the game, the Cougars then scored twice, including with a second left in regulation, leaving UBC on the verge of elimination once again.
The players were not the only ones who had to regroup.
Shortly after the third period ended, head coach Sven Butchenson stepped away from his team.
“I kind of just went to the back room by myself,” Butchenson told me. “If I came in the room and looked flustered and disappointed I knew that that wouldn’t be good.”
“I remember thinking that this is one of the most important talks I’m going to have as a coach in my career.”
Butchenson admits that he forgets what he said to the team before overtime, but his players remember the general message.
“Eventually Sven came in and calmed us all down and said we don’t deserve to lose this game,” Becker explained. "So we went out [and] did whatever we could to win.”
Back on the ice, the team regained their stride from earlier in the game.
“One of the coolest experiences that I’ve ever had in hockey was how we came out in overtime unfazed,” Butchenson said. “We [also] lost two players during the game to injury-so now we lost a 4-1 lead, your lineup is short and you’re riding guys more so the combination of all that stuff was a mental test and, man, we passed it with flying colours.”
Despite controlling the play in overtime, the T-Birds were unable to register any shots on net until a Mount Royal penalty put UBC on the powerplay.
Once on the powerplay, the T-Birds sent out their top scoring unit. While the Cougars managed to keep T-Birds passing along the perimeter, the puck eventually found UBC defenseman Jerret Smith at the blueline.
Vetterl could see the play developing.
“My role is to be that front guy,” Vetterl explained to me. [Smith] played the top of the point on that powerplay and I’ve played the front of the net for about three years now so we understand that when he has an open lane he knows that I’m going to be in front. So I saw him open and just tried to get in front of the goalie’s eyes.”
Anticipating the shot, Vetterl moved towards the net. The initial shot from Smith was blocked by a Cougars player. But the puck made its way through to the net and ended up on Vetterl’s stick.
With Mount Royal goalie down and another player checking him, Vetterl quickly backhanded the puck into the net. The series was now over.
As Vetterl celebrated with a Mcgregor-like strut, his teammates rushed the ice in a scene that was only missing John Shorthouse yelling ‘They’ve slayed the dragon!’
When asked what made the team beat Mount Royal in 2020, Becker mentioned the previous playoff struggles.
“We all were pissed off with losing in the first round, myself especially,” Becker said. “Every year I’ve been there we lost in the first round whether that be, most of the time in three games to either Calgary or Mt. Royal. “We essentially had enough of it and did whatever we needed to [win].”
“I felt that we wanted it more.”
His head coach agreed.
“We wanted it more than them,” Butchenson said. “In sports, that counts for a lot. There’s a puck in the corner and usually the guy who wants it more will come out of the corner with that puck. We had that little bit of edge.”
And while the team continued their playoff success into the Canada West finals, their playoff run ended prematurely once nationals were cancelled in March.
With Becker and Vetterl now graduated from the team, and U Sports men’s hockey postponed until next year, lots of questions remain about how the T-Birds will perform given the challenges that lie ahead.
But in the meantime, the dramatic victory over Mount Royal still permeates the minds of those involved, from players to public, and still carries the same emotional feel as when Vetterl scored in overtime.
“It was a lot, man,” Butchenson told me. “The feeling in the dressing room after we got the job done was something I’ll never forget.”