VANCOUVER – Coming off perhaps the biggest win in program history, the UBC Thunderbirds will look to continue to assert themselves in the Canada West standings this weekend.
 
After defeating the first-place Calgary Dinos last Saturday, UBC now hosts Lethbridge for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
 
Sitting in fourth place, the Thunderbirds are actually only four points ahead of the seventh-place Pronghorns. As has been the case all season, any one weekend can swing the standings a great deal, so the Thunderbirds can't sit back and enjoy their victory over the Dinos.
 
"It's a new weekend and a new opponent," said head coach Graham Thomas. "Anything can happen. We have to bring our best every single shift, and that has to be our focus this weekend."
 
So the team is looking forward rather than backwards, which is important with just 10 games to go in the season and a playoff race on the horizon. Still, defeating the second-ranked team in the CIS Top-10 in Calgary has to be appreciated.
 
"It was good," said Thomas of the impact of the Calgary victory. "I think our girls carried that win into practice this week, we had some really good days.
 
"Everybody's been bringing a lot of energy and working hard and everyone's in good spirits. It's given us some confidence and energy moving forward."
 
The idea of a letdown isn't foreign to this team. Earlier in the season, UBC followed up a near-miss against Calgary by splitting a pair in Lethbridge. The 4-0 loss was perhaps the team's worst performance of the year. The Thunderbirds are aware of this and are looking to make sure history doesn't repeat itself.
 
"It seeped into my mind for a bit, but when you look at what's on the line and who we're playing…" said Thomas. "We owe it to ourselves to come ready. We're definitely motivated to play them since we didn't play that well in Lethbridge. It's an opportunity for us to create a bit of separation."
 
UBC will get a boost on the offensive end, as top-six forward Kaylee Chanakos (Nanaimo, BC) is expected to return to the lineup after a long lay-off due to injury. With the gains that moving Nikola Brown-John (Monte Lake, BC) to centre from defense provided and the return of Chanakos, the Thunderbirds may now have their most potent lineup to date.
 
"I'm very excited to be back playing with the team," said Chanakos. "After missing six weeks, it's been great be out on the ice the last few days and getting back into the swing of things again. I'm just ready to get back and have a good second half of the season with the team."
 
Chanakos' return will be her 100^th CIS game, a great career milestone that teammate Kaitlin Imai (Coquitlam, BC) also hit earlier this season. Emily Grainger (Sooke, BC) will also be playing her 100th game.
 
Danielle Dube (Vancouver, BC) is likely to see at least one start between the pipes. She played in both games against Calgary last weekend, an occurrence that has been somewhat rare given UBC's goaltending depth. Dube ranks first in Canada West in save percentage and third in goals against average.
 
The puck drops at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Friday's game can be listened to via CiTR Radio.