Box Score
CALGARY – The Mount Royal Cougars men's hockey team completed the sweep over the UBC Thunderbirds with a 3-1 victory on Saturday evening at Flames Community Arena.
The two rookie Swedes got things going for the Cougars in the first period. After scoring the game-winner in Friday's win, Ruslan Jamaldinov picked up right where he left off, rifling a shot from the high slot to get Mount Royal on the board first.
Then, with just over a minute to play in the first,
Harry Ahlberg scored from the exact spot that Jamaldinov did to give the Cougars a grappling 2-0 lead heading into the break.
For the second game in a row, the Cougars were plagued by their lack of discipline and inconsistency from the officials, allowing the Thunderbirds to head to the man advantage.
On a powerplay partway through the second, UBC took advantage of the extra man and cut the deficit to one. Josh Williams got his second of the weekend and team-leading sixth goal while redirecting Brayden Schuurman's shot-pass from the point.
Ethan Buenaventura made his first start of the season after missing the beginning of the campaign with an injury. Buenaventura was simply sensational between the pipes for MRU, making 24 saves in his season debut.
"It's been a long time coming. I've put in a lot of work to get back. I think it's been eight or nine months. Obviously, I was nervous, but as my dad says: if you're not nervous, you don't really care," said Buenaventura after his great performance in the Cougars' net.
Between Buenaventura and rookie netminder
Zach Zahara, the Cougars' goaltending has been impressive to start the 2026-27 season after losing graduating goalies
Shane Farkas and
Riley Sims.
"With two guys graduating and bringing two guys in, my thing for recruiting goalies is don't overthink it. Bring in the best goalies you possibly can," said MRU head coach
Bert Gilling. "I think our goaltending has been excellent this year; all three of them."
The Cougars continued to be hindered by the referee's whistle, totalling 16 penalty minutes. However, MRU's penalty kill was superb and shut down every chance the T-Birds had to find an equalizer.
With 16 seconds left,
Vaughn Watterodt added an empty-netter from centre ice to seal the win and the weekend sweep for the Cougars.
Mount Royal remains at the top of the East Division with a 7-1-0 record while the Thunderbirds fall to 3-4-1 and sit fourth in the West Division.
Next weekend, MRU will have their second home-and-home matchup with the MacEwan Griffins. The Thunderbirds return home to host the Alberta Golden Bears. All the action can be seen live and on demand on Canada West TV – Powered by BioSteel.
