(Image Credit: Vamsi Nadella/UBC Thunderbirds)

By Ryan Flaherty

Sweep complete

Huskies silence T-birds to punch Canada West final ticket

Mar 1, 2026 | 3:35 AM

The Huskies men’s hockey team is headed back to the Canada West final and the University Cup for a second straight season after shutting down the top team in the conference for a second straight night, defeating the UBC Thunderbirds 4-1 on Saturday in Vancouver to sweep their best-of-three semifinal series.

The Dogs scored twice on the power play and once again silenced the T-birds high-powered attack with a near-flawless display of team defence backstopped by a 26-save effort from Nolan Maier to close out the series.

“Amazing effort, we got the job done. I think it speaks volumes about our group. We have a really mature group, a deep group, we rely on everyone and everyone came to play this weekend,” Huskies captain Gunner Kinniburgh said.

The Thunderbirds came out with a level of urgency befitting a team facing elimination and jumped on the Huskies early, with Nate Sullivan opening the scoring less than two minutes in after back-to-back shifts in the offensive zone. But despite their efforts to extend the lead, UBC was unable to get anything else past Maier, who made 11 stops in the first period.

After regrouping during the intermission, the Dogs began the second with renewed purpose and wasted little time leveling the score as Raphael Pelletier netted his first goal of the playoffs on the man advantage just shy of the three-minute mark.

Sweep complete

Huskies silence T-birds to punch Canada West final ticket

13h ago

Sweep complete

Huskies silence T-birds to punch Canada West final ticket

13h ago

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The turning point came midway through the frame. After serving a delay of game penalty, Huskie defenceman Cole Jordan stepped out of the box just as his team was exiting its own zone, creating a two-on-one rush. Jordan took a pass from Dawson Holt then waited for the fifth-year forward to drive the net before placing a perfect feed right on his tape for a backdoor tap-in, Holt’s first goal of the postseason.

A period away from having their season come to an end, the T-birds were looking to make a big push in the third but instead they were turned back time and time again by a stout Huskies defence that prevented UBC from registering a shot on goal for the first half of the frame. Then with nine minutes remaining, Landon Kosior sniped USask’s second power play goal of the night, extending the lead to two.

The T-birds pulled goaltender Brett Mirwald with two and a half minutes remaining but they could not find a way to beat Maier and with under a minute left Ethan Regnier iced the game with an empty net marker.

“I thought the third period was our best period of hockey all year. It was textbook,” head coach Brandin Cote said. “We were determined, we were focused and then we got one on the power play. Real proud of our group.”

The Huskies have yet to lose in the playoffs, securing back-to-back sweeps of Alberta and UBC, and now wait to find out who they will face in the conference final after the Calgary Dinos defeated the Mount Royal Cougars 2-1 on Saturday to force a third and deciding game in the other semifinal. If the Dinos win on Sunday, they’ll travel to Saskatoon next weekend. If the Cougars prevail, the Huskies will make the trip to Calgary for a rematch of last year’s championship series.

Meanwhile, the Dogs have also secured their spot in the national championship tournament, where they’ll be looking to improve on their bronze medal finish of a year ago.

“Lots of guys that were there last year understand what it’s like and are really super hungry to get the job done. Overall, we’re just really excited to go to Halifax but first we’re focused on the next week coming up and we’ll see if we can repeat (as Canada West champions),” Kinniburgh said.

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