VANCOUVER – For the third week in a row, the UBC Thunderbirds will face a men's hockey team ranked in the upper half of the CIS Top 10.

UBC (1-2-1) hosts the No. 5 Mt. Royal University Cougars (4-0-0) this weekend at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver. This past week was particularly significant for the Cougars as the Calgary-based school earned its first national ranking since the program joined the Canada West in 2012.

UBC will look to hand the Cougars their first loss of the year as the T-Birds face an undefeated team for the second consecutive weekend in hopes of gaining ground in the cutthroat Canada West conference ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

This weekend will feature a battle of two first-year head coaches as Tyler Kuntz of UBC and MRU's Bert Gilling, a former assistant coach at Bemidji State (NCAA DI).

The blue and gold are coming off two losses last weekend at the University of Saskatchewan. UBC fell 2-1 in overtime on Friday night before dropping a 4-0 decision on Saturday. Adam Rossignol scored UBC's lone goal and has been the T-Birds' most prolific scorer, collecting four points through his first four games as a CIS athlete, which puts him in a tie for first in Canada West rookie scoring.
 
In terms of the UBC goaltender situation, Matt Hewitt gave way to Eric Williams in the Thunderbirds most recent game, as the rookie allowed four goals on 37 shots in his first career CIS appearance. Prior to Saturday, it had been the Hewitt show, as the second-year goaltender currently boasts a 2.31 goals against average, and a .914 save percentage.

The T-Birds will need to take advantage of its special teams opportunities as Mt. Royal is the nation's most penalized team. The UBC squad owns a 9.1 per cent success rate through its first four games of the season, in which the team has had 22 man-advantage opportunities. 

In historical head-to-head games, the UBC Thunderbirds hold a 5-3 advantage over their conference rivals to the east.

The Cougars are on fire to start the season, sweeping the Calgary Dinos, the No. 2 team in the nation, last weekend to improve to 4-0-0. The results vaulted them into fifth spot in the national rankings. The team has surrendered just four goals in as many games to begin the season, backed by Dalyn Flette, who leads the Canada West in goaltending minutes, wins, and saves. Last season, it took the Cougars nine games to reach the four-win mark, in what has been a vast improvement so far in 2014.

Including preseason play, the Cougars are 9-0-0 to start the season and remain in a tie for first in the Canada West with the Saskatchewan Huskies. Flette's performance over the weekend, in which he made 72 of 74 saves, earned him Canada West Second Star honours. 

MRU has two of the league's top five scorers in the likes of Cody Cartier and Tyler Fiddler, both with one goal and five assists on the season.

UBC has the luxury of returning to the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre this weekend, which will mark their first regular season appearance in their main home. The team opened the Canada West season at Father David Bauer Arena two weeks ago. Friday's game starts at 7 p.m. PT before an afternoon matinee at 2 p.m. PT on Saturday.