VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds snapped a four game losing streak in convincing fashion on Friday night, shutting out the Calgary Dinos 4-0 at Thunderbird Arena.
The T-Birds wasted no time getting the scoring underway on Friday, as Jordan Biernes lit the lamp just 22 seconds after the opening faceoff. Brennan Sonne weaved his way into the offensive zone and let go of a hard wrist shot from the high slot, and although Dinos goalie Dustin Butler was able to knock it down and make the save, he let out a big rebound, which Biernes was able to pounce on and bang home before the Calgary defenders could close in. That turned out to be all the T-Birds needed, as they spent the rest of the 59 minutes and 38 seconds of the game adding to their lead and helping Gerry Festa preserve his shutout. Festa was busy all night between the pipes for UBC, but the fourth-year net-minder brought his A-game, stopping all 31 shots he faced to pick up the shutout victory.
Clayton Bauer doubled the lead before the end of the period while on the penalty kill. The T-Birds' shorthanded unit caught the Dinos off-guard, and Jeff Lynch's pass found Bauer streaking through the offensive zone, where he was able to beat Butler to put his side up 2-0 heading into the first intermission.
Lynch extended the lead to three early in the second on a UBC five-on-three powerplay. He fired the puck toward the net from an extremely sharp angle, and after taking a deflection off a Calgary defender, it found the back of the net to add some insurance to the T-Bird lead. Lynch picked up his third point of the night early in the third when he assisted on a Matt Allen goal, further padding the UBC lead and all but sealing the win for his side.
Butler made 19 saves for Calgary in the loss.
With the win, the T-Birds improve to 5-7-1 on the season and leapfrog the Dinos to take over sixth place in Canada West. The Dinos are now 5-8-0 on the year.
The Thunderbirds will now be looking to create some separation between themselves and the Dinos in the standings, as the two sides will go head-to-head once again tomorrow night at Thunderbird Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
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