After an intense derby filled with many hits and scrums, the UBC men’s hockey came out on top 3-1 against its cross-town rival, the Simon Fraser University (SFU) Clan.
The 3-1 victory was Sven Butenschon’s first win as the T-Birds’ interim head coach. The former assistant coach took over the position after Adam Shell’s departure less than two weeks ago. He describes the win as a “relief” after the recent string of events.
“It’s been a very fast transition,” said Butenschon. “We’re all moving forward as best as we can and luckily enough, the guys have worked incredibly hard.”
With the win against SFU, the T-Birds have extended their winning streak against the Clan to eight games. The ’Birds last fell to the Clan back in January 2012, where UBC dropped a 3-1 decision. For first-year defenceman Joe Carvahlo, it was his first taste of the two teams’ longstanding rivalry.
“This was my first game personally against SFU, but it was definitely a good experience,” said Carvahlo. “These two schools don’t like each other, but it’s good to have a little intensity like that.”
Despite having outscored SFU 38-7 in the last seven encounters, UBC got into a deficit midway into the opening frame. As SFU was on power play, forward Brandon Tidy put the Clan up by a goal, firing a shot from the point that touched the stick of teammate Scott Patterson before beating T-Bird goalkeeper Derek Dun.
Five minutes after Tidy’s goal, UBC had a power play goal of their own to even the score. Forward Adam Rossignol fed a centering pass to defenceman Riley Guenther, who then put the biscuit in the basket from the slot.
With the score tied after the first frame, the game went into a stalemate for the first half of the second intermission. The ’Birds’ closest scoring chance came midway into the period when UBC forward Nick Buonassisi took an open shot from the slot, which deflected off the blocker of Clan goalkeeper Jordan Liem.
In the final five minutes of the game, the T-Birds saw their strongest momentum with two goals from forward Chase Clayton and centre Carter Popoff. Neither team scored in the final intermission, which ended the game 3-1 in favour of UBC.
“I told the guys to play with a little more composure and a little more confidence,” said Butenschon. “I think once we do that, we can probably get a little more offensive success.”
Even with the win, Butenschon believes that his team has much to learn in the season ahead.
“It’s early, we got a lot of work to do. We’re going to break down that video and lots of areas to improve on,” said Butenschon.
UBC will continue their preseason play next week on Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18 with a doubleheader against the University of Alberta Golden Bears in their home at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.