Vancouver, BC – Two points out of the final playoff spot in the Canada West, the UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team enters crunch time late in the season as they welcome the top-ranked Calgary Dinos to town for a two game series Friday and Saturday. UBC had a six-game winning streak snapped last weekend by the Alberta Golden Bears and looks to regain its winning ways against a team that hasn't lost in regulation this season, a feat that spans 20 games.
This weekend marks the second two-game series between the two Canada West rivals this season with Calgary taking both contests at home back in early October doubling up UBC with a combined score of 12-6. Calgary has spoiled the Thunderbirds playoff runs in each of the previous two seasons, eliminating UBC in the first round in 2-1 series fashion on both occasions. Since the 2011-2012 campaign, UBC is 4-and-12 against the Dinos in regular season and playoff action, a trend the Thunderbirds look to reverse on their road to the Canada West playoffs.
With that in mind, UBC will need some clutch scoring from its veteran players including the likes of
Cole Wilson,
Anthony Bardaro and
Brad Hoban, the teams top three scorers this season. Wilson leads the way for UBC with 10 goals and 13 assists on the season, putting him one point shy of his career best with eight games remaining. Wilson has been on a tear lately with eight points in his last six games while averaging nearly 1.2 points per game this season.
Neil Manning leads all UBC defenders in scoring with 16 points on the year, good for fourth in the Canada West amongst defenceman. The Thunderbirds will also look to newcomer
Geordie Wudrick to provide a spark offensively. He joins the team after transferring from the University of New Brunswick.
The University of Calgary enters the weekend holding the top spot in the CIS rankings for the past four weeks and most recently received every first place vote from the national media panel. The Dinos have put up 25 goals over their previous four games including a 14-2 trouncing over the Lethbridge Pronghorns. However, Calgary is coming off a scare in their most recent game where the Dinos scored a late goal to tie the game in regulation, then needed double overtime to defeat the Manitoba Bisons.
The only loss to taint the Dinos record this season came back in mid-November when Alberta took a 3-2 victory at home versus their provincial rival in overtime. Since, Calgary has scored more than four goals on all but one occasion, including a three game span where they put up a jaw dropping 31 goals, while allowing three or more goals just twice.
Looking to keep the damage to a minimum, UBC will be backstopped by the duo of
Steven Stanford and
Matt Hewitt, after splitting the workload this past weekend versus Alberta. Stanford has started four of the past five regular season games for the 'Birds and has a 4-1 record over than span allowing more than two goals on just two of those five occasions.
On the visiting side, Calgary boasts three of the leagues top four scorers in the likes of Chris Collins, Taylor Stefishen and Kevin King. Collins leads all rookies in scoring and has the overall league lead in goals with 17 on the campaign.
In the crease for Calgary has been Jacob DeSerres, a 3
rd round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers and Memorial Cup final first star in 2011 when he lead the Saint John Sea Dogs to the CHL Championship. DeSerres is tied for the Canada West lead in wins, while owning the leagues best GAA (1.56) and save percentage (0.937).
Games one and two go off at 7:00pm Friday and 5:00 pm. Saturday, both at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
