Prince George - Friday night in Prince George, B.C. on a perfect autumn evening at Masich Place Stadium saw the UNBC Timberwolves (1-3-1) secure their first victory of the 2023 Canada West season after an impressive 3-1 decision over the reigning U SPORTS national champs from TRU (0-5-0).
 
Michael Henman paced the UNBC attack with a pair of highlight reel goals while rookie Prince George product Colin Stauffer cemented the victory with his first career Canada West tally during second half stoppage time.
 
 TRU's lone goal came off the foot of Dylan Pauw in the 59^th minute, the first of his WolfPack career.
 
Between the pipes, TWolves goalkeeper Daniel Zadravec turned aside 11 of the 12 TRU shots fired his way while Olivier Jumeau finished with six saves for the visitors.
  
The first real chance of the game came in the 17^th minute. Some crafty passing from outside the 18-yard box along the right wing gave Henman a chance from distance, but TRU goalkeeper Olivier Jumeau notched his first save of the match keeping things scoreless.
 
In the 18^th minute, Michael Henman, the reigning Canada West player of the year recorded the first UNBC goal of the season off a low re-direct from the middle of the box putting UNBC ahead 1-0 – a score that would stand through the remainder of the first half.
 
The teams combined for 15 shots in the opening half – eight from TRU and seven from UNBC. Each team managed to place five shots on target. The WolfPack had a decided edge in corner kicks with five compared to UNBC's one.
 
UNBC extended their lead in the 55^th minute off a thrilling finish from the Mailman.
 
Henman's second marker of the night came courtesy of a header from inside the goal mouth area off a superb left-footed high cross feed from Isaac Tate.
 
That second goal would prove valuable as the defending national champs had a comeback in mind. Five minutes later the WolfPack answered back with their first goal of the campaign. It came courtesy of defender Dylan Pauw who converted off a Patrick Izett free kick from the left side of the 18-yard box.
 
From that point on, the WolfPack controlled the possession providing some nervous moments for the home side. But some plucky collective defending and some timely saves from Daniel Zadravec helped stave off the TRU threats.
 
In the 89^th minute, Alesandro Comita had a golden chance to tie the score for TRU, but Zadravec put an exclamation point on his night with a diving save to his left.
 
UNBC added an insurance marker late to claim the 3-1 victory. 
TRU will look to get their first win of the season on Sunday when they face these very same Timberwolves in Prince George in a noon start.