Connor Hood, Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics
EDMONTON - The Alberta Golden Bears outshot the visiting UBC Thunderbirds 51-10, scoring four unanswered goals en route to a convincing 4-1 win, Saturday night at Clare Drake Arena.
Brandon Magee scored a pair, with Graeme Craig and Jason Fram also finding the net for Alberta, who improve to 5-3-0 with the win on Friday night. After a 4-3 win the previous night, the loss drops the Thunderbirds back to 5-3-0 as well, and in a tie with Alberta in the standings.
In another stellar performance from a UBC goalie, rookie Patrick Dea stopped 47 of the 51 shots he faced in a losing effort. He wasn't given much help from his offence, however, as they mustered just one powerplay goal from Tyler Sandhu in the first, and only eight total shots at five-on-five.
Dea was strong in the opening period for UBC, stopping all 13 shots he faced against a hungry Golden Bears side. In similar fashion to the night before, given an opportunity, and UBC would strike with the Sandhu marker. Taking a feed from Jerret Smith, Sandhu blew a bullet over a screened Zach Sawchenko.
That would stand as the only offence UBC generated, as Alberta dominated possession and offensive zone time from then on. Magee tied the game early in the second on the powerplay, bouncing a pass in off a UBC defender and past Dea.
Craig gave Alberta their first lead midway through the second, taking a fantastic backhand pass from Steven Owre, ripping a shortside shot over the shoulder of the freshman UBC keeper.
Owning a 34-8 shot advantage after two, the Bears continued to pour on the shots in the third. Dea was forced to make a handful of big saves in the third, keeping his team down by just one.
Fram added a bit of insurance on the powerplay, snapping in a rebound past a sliding Dea. Magee sealed the convincing win for the Bears later in the frame, as Alberta quickly pounded on a UBC turnover, scoring on an abbreviated three-on-one.
The Thunderbirds mustered just two shots total in the third period, never threatening the Alberta lead.
Both teams will head into their conference by weeks, before returning to Canada West action on November 9th.