Talent On Display

When the UBC Thunderbirds agreed to a pair of games against the NCAA's Wisconsin Badgers, they knew they would be in for a battle with one of the most talented rosters in the NCAA. Granted, the Badgers had yet to play a single minute of hockey together prior to this two-game exhibition series due to NCAA rules, but there is enough talent on this Badgers roster that overcoming this detail shouldn't be a problem. As we saw last night, that's exactly what happened as the Badgers handled the T-Birds with relative ease in their first organized game of the season.

If there was a surprising factor that went into Friday's game, it was that both teams came out and played a fairly chippy affair. Understandably, UBC can't match the talent level that Wisconsin boasts, so they would need to play a more physical game to slow down the talented Badgers. The fact that the Badgers responded in kind shows that Wisconsin has the ability to adapt its game to whatever style its opponent plays. It still needs to be seen if the Badgers can play a physical game in the NCAA while scoring enough to win, but they did that well on Friday night.

Cole Caufield scored his first NCAA goal on the power-play in the first period, highly-touted prospect Dylan Holloway added a power-play goal of his own in the second period, and Jason Dhooghe scored early in the third period to lead Wisconsin to the 3-0 victory. Daniel Lebedeff stopped all 26 shots he faced in recording the shutout of the T-Birds. K'Andre Miller, who led all players with 14 penalty minutes, picked up an assist while Alex Turcotte was held off the scoresheet.

Holloway, who was drafted by the WHL's Winnipeg Ice, looked very good in his first NCAA action, recording eight shots on the night as he was one of Wisconsin's most dynamic players. He found room to shoot all night, getting into open positions to take passes and getting his quick release engaged. For a player who had 101 points in 49 AJHL games last season, getting into a regular routine with four practices and two games per week should only see his stock rise as the season progresses. His work over the summer was clearly evident tonight.

"Something with my skating just clicked last year," Holloway told Ben Kuzma of The Province of his game on Friday. "I've been working on it and I just felt faster and that helped quite a bit because I was able to see plays and make plays."

UBC head coach Sven Butenschön liked the way his team started the game, telling Salomon Micko Benrimoh of The Ubyssey, "I think we were right there, I mean, we were just lacking you know, any kind of offensive punch. I don't know how many scoring chances we had. So I think we fared fine against them, you know, defensively and physically, but we just lacked a bit of offense tonight."

UBC trailed 30-13 in shots after 40 minutes of play, but only trailed 2-0 on the scoreboard off the Caufield and Holloway power-play goals. A big reason for the T-Birds only being down a pair of goals was the work of goaltender Rylan Toth who withstood a pile of chances generated by the Badgers including a breakaway and a handful of odd-man rushes. Toth was spectacular over the entire game, and his efforts will not go unrecognized here after denying 35 of 38 shots he faced, a lot of them being of the high-quality variety.

Brett Clayton and Carter Popoff recorded ten of the 26 shots that UBC had in the game, but it was clear that the Thunderbirds just couldn't find the required next gear to give Wisconsin fits in their own zone. Being that this was UBC's first game of the season, there's no surprise that the chemistry is still being formed, but they'll need to be better in tomorrow's game if they hope to build on these experiences for the 2019-20 Canada West season.

Butenschön believes that the Thunderbirds will respond with a better game tomorrow if they make a few adjustments. He told Salomon Micko Benrimoh, "Moving the puck faster, getting it on your forehand [and if] you see an open guy, move it right away. If you get the puck in the offensive zone and you have a lane to the net, take it to the net, shoot it because as soon as you start stick handling, everything shuts down. So I think if we just play a little bit faster, move the puck faster, we'll generate more offense."

The second game in this two-game series goes tomorrow at 3pm PT at Father David Bauer Arena at the University of British Columbia. Get there early to grab a seat as the last time you'll see an NCAA team in Canada this season happens then!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!