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CALGARY – The No.7-ranked University of Calgary Dinos turned the tables on the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds with an electric third period to earn a 7-4 win and the split in the two-game set at Father David Bauer Arena on Saturday.

Last night it was UBC that used a strong power play to come from behind in a 4-2 victory over Calgary. This time, it was the Dinos who scored three of their five goals in the final stanza on the man advantage to secure second-year goaltender Jacob DeSerres his first CIS win.

“The win is great for Jake, he got some bad luck in his first few starts last year, but we managed to put seven in the net for him tonight,” said head coach Mark Howell. “Our key guys were really quick tonight, we were really strong on the pucks and our second efforts in battles and scrums were real good.”

“We weren't very happy with our efforts in last night's game, we addressed it after the game, giving up leads in our own building is not what we are going to be about here, going down 3-2 heading into tonight's third period, it was a real character win for us taking over the game in the last period,” added captain Brock Nixon.

The triumph improves the Dinos to 3-1-0, while the Thunderbirds fall to 2-1-1 with their first regulation setback of the year.

The first period witnessed a continuation in gritty play between the two rivals. While neither team had a clear edge over the other, it was UBC who had the stronger of the chances. DeSerres, who made the first home start of his Dinos' career stood tall, making six of his 15 saves in the first. Steven Stanford made his second straight start between the pipes for Thunderbirds and stopped all eight opportunities that came his way in the first 20 minutes.

Calgary opened the scoring for the second straight night only 15 seconds into the second period. On a four-on-four, Nixon threw the puck on net, where Tyler Fiddler was on the doorstep to bury his team leading fourth of the season.

The Thunderbirds didn't waste much time knotting the score as the visitors found the back of the net at 3:43. Scott MacDonald broke in from the left side where he backhanded the puck on net and sneaked it under a scrambling DeSerres for his second goal in as many games.

UBC took their first lead of the evening at 10:28 while on an odd-man rush as Cole Pruden potted a shot past the Calgary netminder. The marker was Pruden's first of the season.

Assistant captain, Scott Wasden notched his second goal of the series at the 15:15 mark off a hard from the left face-off circle. The lone power play marker of the game for UBC was one of two points put up by the upper-year forward Wasden.

After three-straight UBC goals, the Dinos cut the Thunderbirds' lead to one as they lit the lamp with less than four minutes left in the middle frame. A patient Cory Pritz took his time skating in from the blue line before launching a shot just under the crossbar past Stanford.

“When we were down 3-1, we weren't playing that great, we played very hesitant and nervous, the power play was no-good,” mentioned Howell. “We adjusted a couple of things, gave some guys some options on the power play and that allowed us to have success in the third period”.

The Calgary goal rush started at the 4:54 mark of the third as Fiddler tapped in his second goal of the night on a neat set-up from the left side by Kodie Curran on the man advantage.

At 6:39 the Dinos' power play got another one. Off the cycle, Pritz passed the puck to Nixon along the right side boards where he blasted an attempt through Stanford to put Calgary in front. The tally was Nixon's third of the year and was one of his five points on the night.

After missing on a great scoring chance earlier in the period, Kevin King would be credited with his third of the campaign when Giffen Nyren sent the puck towards the goal and had to go off him and past an eluded Stanford.

Fiddler completed the hat-trick, his first at the university level, midway through the last stanza as he finished off a clean tic-tac-toe passing play with himself Nixon and Curran. The goal would signal the end of Stanford's night as he was replaced by Jordan White for the remainder of the contest.

The Thunderbirds would cut the deficit to two at the 13:12 mark as Hilton beat DeSerres with a quick shot, but late in the game Walker Wintoneak sealed it with an empty net goal.

The Dinos will go on the road for the first time this season next weekend with games in Regina on Oct. 19-20. The Thunderbirds return home next week as they finally play their home opener with games against Lethbridge on Oct. 19-20.

-UC-