VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team (11-7-2) will look to continue the longest winning streak in the Milan Dragicevic era this weekend at home against No. 6 Alberta Golden Bears this weekend.
UBC has won six consecutive games and is coming a huge road sweep of the Calgary Dinos. The 'Birds are sitting alone in fourth place in the Canada West.
The two teams played earlier this season with Alberta winning two 4-1 games on Remembrance Day weekend in Edmonton.
Both games this weekend will have
live online statistics and Saturday's game will be broadcast live on
CiTR 101.9 FM.
GAME TIMES
Fri., Jan. 28 – No. 6 Alberta at UBC (7 p.m. at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, Vancouver)
Sat., Jan. 29 – No. 6 Alberta at UBC (7 p.m. at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, Vancouver)
UBC Thunderbirds
2011-12 conference record: 11-7-2 (4th)
2011-12 CIS ranking: -
Last week: beat Calgary 2-1 and 3-2
Streak: 6 wins
UBC will be tested in its final eight regular season games, as they will all come against teams sitting above the Thunderbirds in the Canada West standings.
The Thunderbirds currently hold down fourth place, a spot that would give the team home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. UBC has not hosted a playoff series at home in four decades.
Last weekend, UBC went to Calgary and swept the Dinos, winning 2-1 and 3-2 games. Goaltender
Jordan White made 21 and 25 saves on Friday and Saturday night respectively to earn the two wins and to run his record to 10-5-2 this season. White is now tied for the Canada West lead in wins with the man he'll see across the ice this weekend, Alberta's Réal Cyr.
Max Grassi continues to lead the UBC offence with 23 points (seven goals), good enough for sixth in conference scoring, while
Scott Wasden (17 points) and
Marc Desloges (15 points) are close behind.
The Thunderbirds have also gotten scoring from other sources during their six-game winning streak. In UBC's last four games,
Marcus Toye,
Cole Pruden,
Matt Wray and
Ben Schmidt have all recorded their first goals of the season.
Schmidt now has eight points in 20 games, which is second in team scoring among defencemen.
Jason Yee, a rookie, leads all UBC blueliners in scoring with ten points in 20 games and is also an impressive +9, the best figure on the Thunderbirds roster.
UBC is also the most disciplined team in the league, with 253 penalty minutes. The next highest figure is 292, which belongs to Alberta.
No. 6 Alberta Golden Bears
2011-12 conference record: 15-5-2 (tied 1st)
2011-12 CIS ranking: 6
Last week: beat Lethbridge 5-0 and 6-1
Streak: 2 wins
The Alberta Golden Bears swept the Lethbridge Pronghorns 5-0 and 6-1 last weekend at home. The two wins allowed the Bears to move into a tie for first place in the Canada West standings with Saskatchewan.
Offensively, the Golden Bears are lead by their top line of first-year forwards Levko Koper and Jordan Hickmott, and third year winger Sean Ringrose. That line has combined for 28 of the team's 76 goals so far this season.
The Bears lead the Canada West in even strength goals with 53.
Alberta has a very deep group on defence. Second year player, Jesse Craige leads the way with three goals and nine assists. He is fifth in scoring amonst Canada West defencemen. Meanwhile, newcomer Thomas Carr is right behind Craige with 11 points.
Colin Joe, Ian Barteaux and Ben Lindemulder, and first year Jordan Rowley round out an excellent defence corps.
In goal, Réal Cyr is the league leader, along with UBC's
Jordan White, in wins with ten. The native of Victoire, Saskatchewan boasts impressive statistics as he has a save percentage of 0.939 and a 1.54 goals against average. Cyr is backed up by Kurtis Mucha, who is in his second year.
- with files from Tyler Kuntz (UBC assistant coach)
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