EDMONTON - The UBC Thunderbirds were lifted by a two-goal performance from Sasha Mutala, as they dispatched the Alberta Golden Bears 5-1 Friday evening at Clare Drake Arena.
It was their fourth victory of the year, and an impressive one against the only undefeated Canada West team left in the Bears. Mutala, now the CW-leader in goals, was joined by goaltender Brett Mirwald who saved 31 of the 32 shots he faced in a stellar night from the 'Birds backstop.
Alberta falls to 4-1-0, but saw Tyson Laventure continue his hot start, scoring his third of the year on a beautiful breakaway goal in the final frame.
The Thunderbirds were the aggressors for the majority of a scoreless first, as they clanked a couple shots off the post and muddied the neutral zone to stop a potent Alberta attack. They were outshot in the frame by the hosts (9-7), however, as Mirwald stood strong near the latter half of the period.
The UBC offence got their wheels under them in the second, starting with a beautiful behind-the-net feed from Chris Douglas that found Sasha Mutala wide open in the slot and no mistake was made on a fiery wristshot for his third of the season that gave the visitors a 1-0 advantage. It would be Mutala again less than a minute later, who buried a cross-ice feed in the offensive zone to beat a sprawling Tyler Palmer for a two-goal lead. They would not be finished there though, as they would rip two more past Palmer on a Douglas wrister and a Liam Kindree squeaker on a broken play by the Bears defence, as the visitors entered the third with a 4-0 lead.
Tyson Laventure would get the Bears on the board early in the third period, breaking away from the crowd near the blue line and sniping it five-hole for his team-leading third goal of the year to shrink the deficit to three. However, with seven minutes left in the game, Jake Lee would throw a puck on net from the line that would find some good fortune and sneak top shelf for the dagger goal that put the 'Birds up four.
The squads do battle again tomorrow night in their last regular season meeting this season.
