Vancouver, BC – The UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team will seek better fortune in 2014 after a subpar start to the season as the team travels to the University of Regina this weekend to face off against the fourth place Cougars. The 5-10-1 Thunderbirds are currently riding a four game winning streak dating back to November, which includes going two for two in its exhibition games against NCAA Division 1 competition over the holidays.
UBC swept the Great North West Showcase in Burnaby to kickoff action in 2014 defeating the University of North Dakota 3-2 in overtime and shutting out the Princeton University Tigers 1-0. Despite more than a month removed from it's last game, the Thunderbirds upset the seven-time NCAA champions from North Dakota and showed no signs of rust in defeating its ivy league opponent from the Northeast, momentum that UBC hopes to carry through to its first regular season match of 2014.
The Thunderbirds will be tested early and often in their road to the playoffs as the team's next three weekend matchups sees then face off against three of the top four Canada West teams in Calgary and Alberta, with just three loses combined between the two, and this weekend's tilt in Regina. The seventh place Thunderbirds currently sit two points out of the final playoff spot in the Canada West with 12 games remaining and only seven points back of fourth place Regina in the Canada West, with two games in hand.
Regina is coming off a weekend split to begin the latter portion of the Canada West regular season against the Lethbridge Pronghorns, bringing the Cougars record to 9-9-0 heading into this weekends action against UBC. With a shutout victory on the weekend, the Cougars' Andrew Hayes became the first goalie in program history to collect three shutouts in a season. Hayes and Lucas Gore have seen equal time in net amassing a goals against average of 3.27 and save percentage of .902.
At the other end of the ice,
Matt Hewitt and
Steven Stanford have split the timeshare in net thus far for the Thunderbirds, with a combined GAA of 3.97 and SV% of .873. In what will be the second and final weekend series between the Cougars and Thunderbirds, the season series is currently split at one win apiece.
UBC's
Cole Wilson enters the stretch drive of the regular season as the team's leading scorer having potted six goals while having dished out 12 helpers, putting him on pace to surpass his career best of 24 points set during the 2012-2013 campaign. Cody Fowlie who has put up 16 points in 18 games leads the way in scoring for Regina. In his first season with the Cougars, the former Kelowna Rocket currently sits in fourth place in rookie scoring in the Canada West.
Also of note, the Cougars have added forward Ian McNulty who will be making his home debut after the SJHL Player of the Year for the Melville Millionaires (Sask.) signed with the team over the Christmas holidays.
The teams will face off Jan. 10-11 in Regina at The Co-operators Centre; with both games at 5 p.m. Live webcast can be found
here.
