Eric Inasi/The Ubyssey
The UBC Thunderbirds men’s hockey team fought all the way back from a 3-0 first period deficit, but gave up a heart-wrenching late third period tally to lose to the Saskatchewan Huskies 5-4 Friday night at Doug Mitchell Arena.
“I give our guys credit,” said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic. “For the last 40 minutes, we battled. We outscored them. And we played to our strengths, which is getting the puck in deep, getting the forecheck going. We hit the post twice in the last five minutes. We had some great power play chances. The game could have gone either way.”
UBC’s night looked over before it even began. Just 23 seconds into the game, Huskies’ defenceman Matthew Delahey threw a puck on net that hit a Thunderbirds player and fluttered past Jordan White’s glove to give Saskatchewan the early advantage.
The Huskies then scored two goals in just 45 seconds. Brennan Bosch’s seventh tally of the season took a fortunate bounce off the post and into the cage. Seconds later, Chris Durand potted a juicy rebound over a flailing White. Though the rest of the team was doing little to help White defensively, he was pulled in favour of Kraymer Barnstable after giving up three goals in just less than ten minutes.
The latter two frames saw a complete reversal in play. In the second period, Scott Wasden received a feed from Marc Desloges, pulled the puck to his backhand, and flicked it above the goaltender David Reekie to cut the Huskies’ lead to two.
Minutes later, Wasden slid in his second of the game on a diagonal cross crease feed. Referees briefly discussed whether or not the puck had been kicked in, but the goal stood.
Just as UBC was beginning to pick up momentum, UBC goalie Barnstable mishandled the puck in a moment of hesitation behind his own net. The Huskies’ Craig McCallum capitalized on the giveaway, waiting out the diving UBC defenceman and wristing the puck into the yawning cage to make it 4-2.
In the beginning of the third period, the Thunderbirds looked electric, jumping in on the forecheck, throwing pucks at net, creating scrambles in front and seemingly determined to wrestle the lead away from the Huskies. UBC was rewarded four minutes into the frame after a frenzied battle in front of the net saw Jordan Inglis bat in his tenth of the season.
Just more than a minute minute later, Matt Wray cashed in the tying goal off a rebound, and the UBC Thunderbirds looked as jubilant as they have all season long.
It didn’t last. With only seven minutes remaining in the game, Nate Fleming took a costly holding penalty. The Huskies’ own the top power play in Canada, and they made no mistake capitalizing on the opportunity, scoring just 24 seconds into the two-minute minor. It would be the final tally as Saskatchewan held on for the 5-4 victory.
“I told the guys if we play like that for 60 minutes we’re going to win,” said Dragicevic. “But you can’t expect to play 40 minutes against one of the best teams in Canada and win. You can’t. We showed them way too much respect in the first period, and they took it to us.
“At the end, we take a penalty, and we miss a complete blown assignment. That can’t happen. That’s what good teams do. They capitalized on our mistakes.”
UBC is now four points back of the Calgary Dinos for the final home playoff spot in the first round, although the Thunderbirds hold two games in hand.
UBC will play the other half of their match-up against Saskatchewan tonight at 7pm at Doug Mitchell Arena.
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