The University of Calgary Dinos swept the UBC Thunderbirds this weekend, handing the Dinos their fourth and fifth consecutive wins of the season and dropping UBC into fifth place on the Canada West leaderboards. The Dinos and the Thunderbirds were previously tied for fourth place.
On Friday, the Dinos launched the weekend with an explosive first period, scoring two goals in two shots during the first three minutes of play. The Dinos’ first goal came from BC native Max Patterson, scored off a perfect pass from Connor Horning. Less than a minute later the Dinos had their second goal, tipped in by Connor Gutenberg. The Dinos continued to overpower the Thunderbirds in the second half of the first period with another two quick goals, Patterson’s second goal of the game and Colson Gengenbach’s second of the season.
The Dinos opened the scoring yet again in the second period when forward Jake Gricius slipped the puck past UBC goaltender Dorrin Luding. Nearing the end of the second, UBC’s Liam Kindree accepted a pass from Jonathan Smart and sent the puck bar down, bringing the score to 5–1 and initiating some much-needed momentum for UBC. The Thunderbirds had started the period with three shots on goal, but managed to bring it up to 13 by intermission.
The third period saw the Dinos’ Jordan Xavier and Jaeger White each score their first goal of the season, while the T-Birds’ Sam Huo took advantage of a powerplay to add a second goal to the scoreboard for UBC. Despite the Thunderbirds’ increased energy in the second half of the game, the evening ended with a 7–2 victory for the Dinos.
Saturday afternoon brought a more balanced game for the two closely-ranked teams. At first, the Dinos seemed to be continuing their goal streak when Patterson’s breakout pass to Josh Maser resulted in a 1–0 lead for the Dinos within the first 9 minutes of the first period, but the Thunderbirds managed to hold that score by keeping the majority of the play in the neutral zone until the last minute of play. With less than a minute left on the clock, T-Birds’ forward Jack Wismer deflected Smart’s shot straight into the back of the net and tied the game 1–1.
The score remained even throughout the second period despite several scoring opportunities for both teams, and halfway through the second, shots on goal were also tied at 14–14. The third period broke the stalemate. The Dinos’ Gengenbach dished the puck to Gutenberg who found an opening at the front of the net and earned the Dinos a 2–1 victory.
The Thunderbirds will return home this upcoming weekend in an effort to end their three-game slump. They will be hosting the Trinity Western Spartans at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on Thursday, November 10 at 6 p.m.