Cougars overwhelm early, hand T-Birds rare loss to start 2026

VANCOUVER – Three goals within a 46 second span in the first period was all the Mount Royal Cougars (12-5-2) needed Friday night, handing the UBC Thunderbirds (15-2-2) a 4-2 loss to open up the 2026 portion of the Canada West campaign.

The loss – just UBC's second on home ice this season and second overall in regulation – snapped the No. 1 ranked Thunderbirds' program record 17-game point streak while the surging Cougars earned their fourth consecutive victory, expanding their own point streak to 10 straight.

Connor Bouchard's ice breaker at 7:09 was followed in rapid succession by tallies from Spencer Moe and Tristan Zandee, stunning the T-Birds who faced a deep hole before the mid point of the opening period.



Blake Stevenson's eighth of the season deepened the UBC deficit in what was by all accounts the Thunderbirds' worst start to a game in years.

"They came ready to play, we didn't," UBC head coach, Sven Butenschon, said succinctly. "We had the scoring chances seven to seven after the first period but because we weren't mentally there, we missed the net, shot it right at the goalie. They get a chance, they executed and made a great backhand, top shelf shot or a great pass to a guy open, back door. We just didn't start on time."

The T-Birds did rally, Sasha Mutala scoring his tenth of the season midway through the second in what was another period where the home side still mostly looked out of sorts.
 

UBC owned the final period and cut the deficit to two with Cyle McNabb's sixth at 11:56. The 'Birds outshot the Cougars 14-4 in the final 20 minutes but Shane Farkas didn't allow another puck behind him.

"They're great guys and there's lots of pride in there and they're mentally tough so they went out but it was just a hole too deep," Butenschon said of his veteran group's efforts late in the going Friday. "At the beginning of the year I looked on paper and Mount Royal is the team. They're right there with us, they had a great year last year, they went to nationals last year. You can see how fast and how great of a skating team they are. They added a defenceman at Christmas so they're even deeper, they're going to be a problem for the league. It's going to be a tough game for us again tomorrow but I think we'll respond and I think if you learn some lessons today moving forward that's the most important thing."

The final regular season meeting between the two contenders goes down Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Tickets are available online and the game will also be streamed live on Canada West TV.