THIS WEEKEND: Alberta at UBC, Fri. & Sat., Jan. 7-8, 7:00 p.m.
A LOOK AT THE T-BIRDS After an impressive start to the 2010-11 season that included wins over Canada West powerhouses Calgary and Alberta, the T-Birds struggled to win games. The result is that UBC sits last in conference standings coming out of the winter break.
But the Blue and Gold have proven they have the capacity to compete with the toughest teams in women's hockey, and they'll have to step up and play to that potential if they hope to see the post-season. That journey starts this weekend when they take on the second place Alberta Pandas.
Coming into 2011, the schedule starts to favour the 'Birds. They'll get to play more games on home ice, and do away with some of the grueling travel that is part of life in Canada West.
The break has also helped the Thunderbirds recover from injury, as this weekend's games will see them missing just one player due to injury. Unfortunately, that missing player is
Lisa Bonang, who is a veteran presence and big contributor when she's on the ice.
Forward
Kaitlin Imai leads the Thunderbirds in scoring, while ever-improving linemate
Tatiana Rafter has steadily been increasing her offensive numbers.
As has often been the case through her previous four seasons at UBC, goaltender
Melinda Choy has been a huge part of the T-Birds' line-up. Choy will be tested this weekend against the Pandas and once again her team will be counting on her to make some big saves.
A LOOK AT THE PANDASThe University of Alberta comes into this weekend's series ranked no. 5 in the country. They boast a strong contingent of scorers combined with the best team defence in Canada West. In fact, over 14 games, Alberta has allowed less than half as many goals as UBC.
Part of the reason for the team's stingy play is the one-two punch provided by goaltenders Michala Jeffries and Kanesa Shwetz, who sport 1.61 and 1.70 goals against average respectively.
On offence, the Pandas have three forwards among Canada West's top 10 scorers. Leah Copeland leads the way with 18 points in 14 games, while Sarah Hilworth's 17 points include five power play goals, second best in the conference. Second year forward Melody Howard rounds out the trio with 15 points in 14 games, with three of her seven goals coming on the power play.
Alberta's Riana Magee leads Canada West in scoring among rookie defenders with seven points in 14 games, adding an additional threat from the blueline.
COACH WILSON ON...Coming out of the break ready for 2011:"We've had excellent practices. Everybody's got lots of jump. We've got all our injured players back except Bonang, unfortunately. But the players here are working hard and buying into the changes we're making, and everyone's having fun. We start 2011 with four games at home, but at the end of the day we're taking it one game, one shift at a time."
Changes heading into the second half of the regular season:"Obviously we're hoping for a better result. We came into the season playing very well, and what I saw as the season progressed was the same effort. We were in all the games we played until halfway through the third period, and we gave away some points we would dearly like to have back. Some of that had to do with maturity, some of that had to do with not having a deep bench. It was a tough schedule, but we needed to take advantage of the games where we were ahead. Those are lessons learned."
The pressure of racking up much needed wins heading towards play-off time:"We've talked about it as a team, and now we're going to leave it. We know what we have to do. There are some things we have to do better, and one of them is playing 60 minutes of hockey. If we concentrate on what we do well and bury some more of the chances we've had, and continue to get the good goaltending we've had, then we'll make it happen. We're confident in the group we have here."
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