T-Birds sneak past Bears for 1-0 series lead

EDMONTON - Josh Williams was known to score some big goals during his Western Hockey League career, and now he can certainly add one to his list in his Canada West career with the UBC Thunderbirds.

Williams scored his second of the game and the game-winner with 7:06 remaining to give UBC a 4-3 victory over Alberta to give the T-Birds a 1-0 series lead in their Canada West semifinal series, Friday night at Clare Drake Arena.

UBC held a 3-1 lead going into the third, before the Golden Bears battled back to tie it at 3-3 on goals from Lategan and Preziuso, before Williams spoiled Alberta's comeback bid.

Jake Kyski and Sam Huo also scored for UBC, while Josh Paterson, Daneel Lategan and Tyler Preziuso scored for Alberta.

"I know (Williams) had a great junior career, but I'm sure this goal ranks right up there. They (Alberta) were really coming at us, they got two goals to tie it up, but Josh came up clutch on that goal for us," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon.

"It's not how you draw it up. You do so many good things through two periods, and then you get a little soft and a team like Alberta will make you pay.

"But there are momentum swings in hockey, and you have to keep an even keel and manage those momentum swings, and I thought we did that."

The Bears worked hard to try and complete the comeback, tying the game with two goals in a span of 3:21, but then they got into penalty trouble, which cooled off their comeback attempt in a big way.

"We got the momentum going to tie it at 3-3, and then we took two penalties we shouldn't be taking and we gave them the momentum right back," said Bears head coach Ian Herbers.

"For the most part we didn't play our game enough tonight. We started to play our game in the third period when we started to drive to the net and get pucks on net, and we capitalized, but overall we had too many passengers tonight."

T-Birds goaltender Kaedan made 34 saves in the win for UBC, while Ethan Kruger made 24 saves in the loss for Alberta.

The two teams will play Game 2 of their series on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Clare Drake Arena.