Vancouver, BC - The UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team is happy to be home in hopes of turning their season around after a 1-5-0 start. They play host to the Lethbridge Pronghorns (0-6-0) this weekend at the Doug MItchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
"We are not happy where we are at right now," said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic. "My biggest concern is playing a full 60 minutes. We have been in every game, but lapses for a short period of time have resulted in the opposition scoring two or even three quick goals which proves to be too much for us to comeback from."
Despite their record, UBC has lost four games this season to undefeated teams. Both Calgary and Alberta are a perfect 8-0 on the year. In fact they have distanced themselves from the rest of the conference, making it a very interesting race for third through eighth. All six teams have a record of .500 or worse.
Over the next month the Thunderbirds will play 10 games, all against teams in the third to eight group, including four games against the winless Pronghorns. This is the time to make some noise.
"This is a good opportunity to move up in the standings and establish our identity and team game," said Dragicevic. "We have four in a row at home to start, so there are no excuses."
Lethbridge comes in having their own struggles. They have yet to win a game and have scored just six goals in their six games, while giving up 31. They are also the most penalized team. In fact they have over double the amount of penalty minutes that UBC has, the least penalized team in the league.Â
One adjustment to keep your eye on this weekend is captain Ben Schmidt shifting back to defence from forward. He will be paired with Neil Manning, giving the head coach an equal number of left handed shots and right handed shots on the back end.
"Ben is so good physically down low and does a great job of breaking up the opposing team's forecheck, that we wanted to move him back to help out," said Dragicevic.
Also after being the back up for the past three games, expect Steven Stanford to get the start Friday against the Pronghorns.
Puck drop is at 7:00 pm both Friday November 1 and Saturday November 2 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
