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Cougars shock T-Birds to begin 2010
VANCOUVER -- The last-place Regina Cougars certainly didn't look
like a last-place team on Friday night when they beat the UBC
Thunderbirds 6-2 at the Father Bauer Arena in their first
conference action of the new year.
The T-Birds outshot the Cougars 41-26 but struggled to get anything
past Cougars goalie Adam Ward, who made several big saves to keep
his side on top despite UBC having more scoring chances.
"It doesn't matter if you get 50 shots or 60 shots," said UBC head
coach Milan Dragicevic. "If you don't score you are not going to
win hockey games."
The Cougars didn't even a register their first shot until seven
minutes into the first period, but shortly after the halfway point
they took the lead. Dillon Johnstone hit Craig Cuthbert in stride
with a pass across the slot from the right wing, and Cuthbert
one-timed it home to put Regina up 1-0.
The T-Birds kept the pressure on throughout the opening frame and
it seemed like only a matter of time before they would draw even,
but instead the Cougars doubled their lead just before the first
intermission. Mark Nelson received Caine Pearpoint's pass right in
front of the net and made a nice move to get Thuot down on the ice
before sliding the puck in.
Jordan Inglis answered for UBC early in the second period with a
rocket of a wrist shot from just inside the blueline, but Regina
took over from there. Jared Jason made it 3-1 less than a minute
after the Inglis goal, and Devon LeBlanc chased UBC goalie Francois
Thuot from the game when he beat him with a wrist shot from the
left faceoff circle late in the second.
The Cougars added two more goals early in the third, courtesy of
Cuthbert and Pearpoint, before Max Grassi pulled one back for UBC
at 12:44 of the final frame.
"We gave them too many clear shots and they are a very good
opportunistic team," said Dragicevic. "They play defence and wait
for a mistake and we made too many mistakes today and they
capitalized. Six goals against is too many. You can't win hockey
games like that."
UBC falls to 5-11-1 with the loss, and they are nine points back of
the fourth-place Saskatchewan Huskies, who currently hold the final
playoff spot.
"We know what's at stake. We knew we had to win nine out of 12
games (to make the playoffs) and now we have to win nine out of
11," said Dragicevic. "The pressure is high and we didn't respond
well tonight."
The Cougars improve to 5-10-0 and are just one point behind the
T-Birds.
The two sides will go at it again on Saturday again at Father Bauer
Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
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Ben Schach
UBC Sports Information Director
