LETHBRIDGE — The eighth place Lethbridge Pronghorns knew what was on the line as they took on the seventh place University of British Columbia Thunderbirds at home on Friday, however they ended up allowing six unanswered goals following a dominant first period to ultimately lose by a score of 6 – 1.
 
Fans also knew what was on the line in this series, proven by a strong attendance from The Herd at the Nicholas Sheran Arena. Unfortunately, the expectant crowd had their expectations dashed with every passing Thunderbirds goal.
 
UBC's Jake Kryski potted three goals and two assists on six shots to earn the game's first-star honours, and teammate Austin Glover had one goal and two assists to secure second-star honours.
 
Goaltender Rylan Toth (3^rd Star) turned aside all but one of the 27 shots he faced in the crucial win, while counterpart Jack Burgart allowed five goals on the 33 shots he faced.
 
UBC's defensive play was well-maintained through the opening half of the first period, however their collapsed structure did not hold up to its typical standard, as they allowed eight shots to reach Toth, while accruing only two of their own on the Burgart-tended net.
 
Lethbridge's continued offensive effort rewarded them with a goal helped by a poor UBC reclamation in their own zone. Nearing the end of the first period, Luke Coleman braced his man at the corner boards, which allowed Brooks Maxwell to take the puck to the blue line and drop it off for Taylor Fisher, whose long shot found its way past Toth to open the scoring.
 
Lethbridge's one-goal lead held up through the remaining few minutes of play, heading to the first intermission with leads in both goals and shots (15 to 6).
 
The Thunderbirds appeared to change their strategy early, adopting more offensively focused tendencies, and it showed success early in the form of the tying goal. On a partial three-on-two, Jake Kryski got the puck over to Tyler Sandhu, whose shot missed wide of Burgart but was recovered by Austin Glover, who wrapped it around the net and past a scrambling Burgart to tie the game.
 
UBC's offensive pressure was magnified by a pair of powerplay opportunities shortly before the game's half-way point, and the visiting channeled the built-up momentum into a powerplay goal.
 
Carter Popoff kick-started a tic-tac-toe play from the high slot to Jarret Tyszka at the half-boards, and the puck was rebounded through the slot to Kryski at the far point, and his shot found twine above the glove of Burgart to capture the lead for his side.
 
Thanks to a pair of saves by Burgart late in the period, the Pronghorns were able to scrape by with a deficit of only a single goal, forfeiting the shots lead to UBC who doubled Lethbridge's second period tally to lead 25 - 23. 
 
The third period was where it all went wrong for the home side, allowing four goals in the third period, including an empty-net goal.
 
It all started with a breakout goal by the Thunderbirds, as Jonathan Smart broke the pass out to Glover, who dished it to a streaking Kryski before finding the back of the Lethbridge net.
 
Off of a Torrin White turnover in the defensive zone that slid free thanks to Austin Vetterl, an unmarked Popoff was in prime scoring position and did not miss, firing it past the skate of an out-of-position Burgart.
 
The empty net goal came thanks to a Thunderbirds faceoff win by Glover, and thanks to some careful stickwork by Sandhu, the puck found the speedy Kryski who skated through the neutral zone and easily shot the puck into the untended net.
 
Adding salt to the cavernous gash was Colton Kehler, who received the puck from Quentin Greenwood's hard exit out of the UBC end, finding room above and behind the glove of Bugart, closing the game with a five-goal margin in his team's favour.
 
 
With the win, the UBC Thunderbirds (7-13-5, 19 pts) push a playoff berth out of the reach of the Lethbridge Pronghorns (5-17-3, 13 pts), who are now guaranteed to finish no higher than 7^th place – outside of playoff contention.
 
The final game of the penultimate weekend series of the season takes place Saturday, February 1, at the Nicholas Sheran Arena. Puck drop is at 1 PM.