Vancouver, BC – Coming off a weekend split against the Regina Cougars, the UBC Thunderbirds travel to Edmonton this weekend to face off against the No. 1-ranked Alberta Golden Bears. Game one goes off Friday evening at 6 p.m. at Clare Drake Arena while Saturday's matchup is set for 5 p.m., both Pacific Time.
Matt Hewitt took the victory in this past weekends game one, a thrilling 5-4-comeback victory against Regina in relief of
Steven Stanford, who got pulled after allowing three early first period goals. The Thunderbirds struggled on the man-advantage Saturday in game-two and were shutout 1-0.
UBC currently sits in seventh in the Canada West, ten points back of leaders Alberta and Calgary, with two games in hand.
Nate Fleming and
Cole Wilson lead the team with four points while
Nick Buonassisi, Friday night's hero against the Cougars, leads the team with three goals.
The Thunderbirds look to get its power play back on track after going one for nine on the man-advantage this past weekend against Regina. Doing so won't be an easy task against the Bears defense, however, as Alberta has conceded the fewest goals in the Canada West so far this season.
Alberta goaltenders Luke Siemens and Kurtis Mucha have split the workload through the teams first six games, each with three victories and a shutout apiece allowing a combined seven goals through six games.
Alberta also boasts plenty of offensive ability, as two of the league's top five scorers are Golden Bears in Levko Koper, with 10 points and rookie T.J Foster, with nine points. For his play, Koper, a former NHL draft-pick was named last weeks Canada West 1
st star of the week.
The Bears have outscored its opponents by a margin of 28-7 through six games this season maintaining an undefeated record sitting atop the Canada West with 12 points.
This weekend will mark the first full home series for Alberta who took all four of last season's matchups against the Thunderbirds outscoring them 15-4 over that timespan.
