Vancouver, BC - The UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team may have already locked up a spot in the post season, now with just four games remaining in their regular season schedule they will look to move up in the standings and earn a home playoff date.
UBC (13-8-3) heads into the weekend sitting in fifth place in the Canada West conference with 29 points on the season. They are one point behind fourth place Calgary (15-9-0), four points behind third palce Saskatchewan (16-7-1), and five points shy of second place Manitoba (15-5-4), their opponents this weekend. Regina (12-9-3) is hot on the Thunderbirds heels, just two points back, while the Alberta Golden Bears (19-4-1) lead the way, five points clear of Manitoba.
When it comes to the post season, the top two teams in the conference earn a first round bye, while the third and fourth place teams will play host to a best of three series against the fifth and sixth place teams. UBC wants to get into a situation where they are hosting a playoff date, but it won't be easy considering they take on the top two teams in the conference (Manitoba and Alberta) in their final four games of the regular season.
The 'Birds had an opportunity to be in fourth place heading into these final two weekends, but had a disappointing result against Mount Royal last weekend, managing just two of a possible four points versus the Cougars.
"That was a tough one," said head coach Milan Dragicevic. " When you look back at it, we had the opportunity to get sole possession of fourth place and get closer to second spot. It's part of the growing pains, part of the learning experience for our guys. It's going to benefit us in the long run as our guys should be more hungry and hopefully they have learned their lesson that you have to play 60 minutes in this league regardless of who you play."
This weekend the Thunderbirds will make the trip to the Manitoba capital to take on the Bisons. UBC defeated the Bisons in both meetings back in mid November defeating them 5-2 and 3-2 in double overtime. However, since then, these two teams have gone in different directions. Manitoba has been the hottest team in the league going 9-1-2 since the November 17th double overtime loss to the Thunderbirds, while UBC has gone 5-5-2 over the 12 game stretch.
"Manitoba is a very good team, especially on home ice," said Dragicevic. "We have had some success against them over the last few years and we want that to continue this weekend."
The Bisons are 9-1-2 on home ice this year, the second best home record in the conference. However, UBC is the best road team in the league, sporting a 7-3-2 record away from the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
The key for UBC will be shutting down the Bisons top line of 2012 Canada West Player of the Year Blair Macaulay, Ian Duval, and Tyler Dittmer. The three sit in the top six in the league in scoring, combining for 88 points on the season. Macaulay leads the way with 32 points and is riding a nine game point streak in which he has five goals and 13 assists. The Thunderbirds successfully shutdown this trio back in November, limiting them to just one assist combined in the two victories.
Speaking of streaking,
Cole Wilson (White Rock, BC) heads into the weekend on a six game goal scoring streak. He is tied for the league lead in goals with 14 and is averaging over a point a game. The second year forward has a heavy shot and is used as the trigger man on the point on the power play.
"For us, this is playoff hockey," said Dragicevic. " This is why we play the games, to get the opportunity to play teams in front of you in the standings and see how you stack up. Other then the set back last Friday night, we feel we are peaking at the right time. Everything is clicking, including our power play which has been hot with eight goals in our last six games."
UBC sits third in the league in power play efficiency at 20.8%. The Bisons are in fourth at 20.6%. Manitoba though boasts the top penalty kill in the league, operating at 83.8%, while UBC has the seventh best penalty kill at 77.4%.
Puck drop is 5:00 pm PST at Max Bell Arena in Winnipeg, MB for both Friday and Saturday night.
