Calgary, AB -
For a second straight year the UBC Thunderbirds and Calgary Dinos square off in the Canada West Quarterfinals in men's hockey. The best of three series begins Friday night in Calgary.
The UBC Thunderbirds are coming off their best regular season ever under head coach Milan Dragicevic; unfortunately, they did fall short of their goal of hosting a first round playoff match up. Instead they will hit the road to take on their arch rivals from Calgary. These two teams are no strangers to one another. They have played each other 11 times over the last 18 months, including a three game playoff series in 2012 which the Dinos won in three games. This season Calgary won the regular season series 3-1.
"Calgary took something away from us last year and we are motivated to earn our revenge," said UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic. "Our guys remember what happened last year and know how it felt to lose a hard fought series. They also know they don't want to go through it again. These are two evenly matched teams and as we all know at this time of year, it will most likely come down to special teams and discipline."
The Thunderbirds were the least penalized team in the Canada West, while Calgary was the second highest penalized team in the conference. In terms of special teams, UBC finished the regular season ranked 4th (19.7%) on the power play and 6th (78.1%) on the penalty kill, while Calgary had the 5th (16.9%) best power play and 2nd (84.1%) best penalty kill.
Dragicevic will have his entire line up to choose from for this series. For the first time all year, the Thunderbirds are completely healthy. Dillon Wagner (Keephills, AB) is the latest to return having missed the last six regular season games due to injury.
"Our depth is our biggest strength," said Dragicevic. "How many teams do you know that have the league's leading goal scorer playing on the third line?"
Cole Wilson (White Rock, BC) finished the regular season tied for the most goals in the Canada West with 16. He plays alongside Nate Fleming (St.Albert, AB) and Wyatt Hamilton (Cochrane, AB) on the 'Birds shutdown line. Ben Schmidt (Campbell River, BC) who is a defenseman by trade, will move up front to unitize his speed and hopefully create mismatches in the offensive zone.
"Ben is one of the best skaters in the league and his speed and tenacity make him very hard to play against," said Dragicevic. "Calgary's defence is key to everything they do. If Ben and everybody else can neutralize them and prevent them from making the first pass, our chances of success increase greatly."
As much as UBC would prefer to be hosting this playoff series, they are very comfortable playing on the road. This season the Thunderbirds were 8-4-2 on the road and were especially good on Friday nights, winning six of seven games. Calgary on the other hand has been okay at home, going 8-6-0. However, the first two games of the series will not be played on their regular home ice, instead they will play at Max Bell Centre, so it's basically a road game for both teams.
Along with their strong defence, the Thunderbirds need to be aware of Calgary forwards Walker Wintoneak and Brock Nixon. Wintoneak, who stands 6'3, 210, led the team in goals and points (13g, 26pts), while Nixon, known more as a playmaker, finished with 25 points on the year.
"The last 28 games are out the window," said Dragicevic. "All we have to do is make sure our guys are prepared and full of confidence. Playing Manitoba and Alberta over the last two weekends has gotten us into playoff mode early and we excited for the opportunity to face off against Calgary one more time."
The best of three series opens Friday night in Calgary at the Max Bell Centre at 6:00 pm PST. Game two is set for Saturday at 5:00 pm PST and if necessary game three will be back at Calgary's Father David Bauer Arena with puck drop at 6:00 pm PST.
