VANCOUVER –
Jack Wismer scored the biggest goal of his UBC career as his first of the playoffs midway through the third stood up as the game winner, pushing the Canada West Final to a third and deciding game after a gritty 2-1 Thunderbirds win over the Calgary Dinos.
With the game tied 1-1 heading into the final period, Wismer sent the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre crowd into a frenzy. The T-Birds held on in the dying moments, handing the Dinos their first loss of the playoffs while setting up Sunday's championship finale.
"Inside that room it was just about going out and doing our job, sticking to the process, sticking to the game plan," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon about the mentality of his squad after trailing in the first period. "It's so hard mentally, these games. It's easy to get caught up in emotions. The game is so intense, it's so heated out there, it's unbelievable. So when you go down by one, you just got to have a short memory, focus on your next shift and keep the belief going."
"Canada West Finals, you go to game three to win a championship, anybody's going to take that opportunity," said Calgary head coach Mark Howell following game two. "They came out hard, we came out hard. We scored first, they matched that. We hit three or four posts as well. We'll grow from what we did today, learn from the positives and maybe change a couple things and make ourselves better and more capable tomorrow night."
That T-Birds belief never appeared challenged despite the Dinos striking first when Colson Gengenbach continued his outstanding post-season, notching his fourth of the playoffs late in the opening period. Connor Gutenberg centred the puck from below the goal line and as he spun around toward the net, Gengenbach fired a low shot that squeaked through Cole Shwebius' pads and trickled over the line.
The T-Birds continued to search for the equalizer with a number of high danger chances but if Carl Tetachuk wasn't getting in front of the puck it was a Dinos stick or a body.
Finally, UBC captain
Chris Douglas found the elusive tying goal at the 14:37 mark of the second. On the T-Birds first power play of the game,
Sam Huo fed Douglas in the slot who deflected the puck which went off Dinos defenceman Noah King's stick, up and over Tetachuk and into the back of the net.
That T-Birds power play turned out to be the lone man advantage for either side over the course of the game which had all the feel of a classic playoff battle.
As the third progressed and the potential for overtime grew, Wismer quickly changed everything with his first of the playoffs. Off a defensive zone faceoff won by
Scott Atkinson,
Jake Lee made a beautiful pass off the boards up to Wismer who powered to the net and roofed the puck, bar down.
"Somebody had to step up and tonight it was Wiz," said Butenschon. "Tomorrow it will be somebody else, in Toronto (at the University Cup) it will be somebody else. We're a deep squad and anybody in that room can be the hero any night. Tonight was Wizard's and we're happy for him."
Still with nearly half the period remaining, the Dinos still had plenty of time to try to force overtime, but the T-Birds did a tremendous job of limiting shots, holding Calgary to just five total in the final 20 minutes, outshooting the defending champions by a 41-21 margin by the final buzzer.
UBC's shot at their first conference banner in 53 years, and Calgary's crack at back-to-back titles, all comes down to Sunday's game three in what's been a punishing, physical war of a series.
"We do whatever we can with our strength and conditioning folks and our sport science and all that stuff to get us ready for tomorrow," Butenschon added. "I feel like as series go on we're getting better, we just got to go out there tomorrow and start early. Get a forecheck going and make them feel like we're coming at them again."
Puck drop for game three is set for 7:00 p.m. PT at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Tickets are available online and the game will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
