Vancouver – Fresh off a two-game sweep of the No. 3 ranked team in the nation, the Saskatchewan Huskies visit the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre for a weekend series against the playoff hungry UBC Thunderbirds. While the Huskies clinched a playoff spot over the weekend by defeating the Calgary Dinos, seventh place UBC sits two points out of the final playoff spot in the Canada West with four games remaining.
The Thunderbirds are coming off a weekend split against the Mount Royal Cougars with an overtime loss on Friday followed by a thrilling overtime victory in Saturday's matinee, as UBC collected three out of a possible four points on the weekend.
Steven Stanford and
Matt Hewitt split the starts on the weekend as the latter collected the overtime victory Saturday with a 40-save performance. Stanford had started nine of the previous 10 games for the Thunderbirds before giving way to Hewitt on Saturday night.
Cole Wilson looks to build on his career season as the fourth-year forward sits in third in league scoring with 30 points highlighted by a hat-trick and overtime game winner this past weekend. Wilson owns a five game point streak entering this weekend's matchup with three multi-point games during that span.
Geordie Wudrick has been an offensive threat since joining the Thunderbirds at the start of 2014 collecting five points in his first four games including his first tally this past weekend.
Saskatchewan has been on a tear as of late having won four consecutive and eight of their past 10 giving them a 14-9-1 record on the year, good for third in the Canada West. The Huskies have had their trouble on the road, however, with a 4-6 record away from Saskatoon, a stat that the Thunderbirds hope to take advantage of in front of its home crowd.
Facing their toughest test of the year in the previous No. 1 CIS ranked Calgary Dinos, the No. 10 ranked Huskies narrowly took game one thanks to a last-minute goal and followed that up with a convincing 10-2 rout on Saturday. The Dinos had held the top spot in the CIS rankings for the previous five weeks but fell to third as the Huskies completed the sweep helping move Saskatchewan into the top ten for the first time since early November.
Derek Hulak, the 2011-2012 Canada West scoring champion, leads the way for the Huskies with a league leading 41 points on the season including a six-point (2g, 4a) affair Saturday versus the Calgary Dinos. Saturday was the seventh time this season that Hulak has eclipsed three points in a game as the fourth-year forward has been the league's most dangerous offensive threat this season. Andrew Bailey provided a spark for the Huskies over the weekend collecting eight points including a hat-trick performance Friday followed by a five-point, three assist night on Saturday. Bailey was awarded the Canada West first star of the week as well as CIS athlete of the week honours for his weekend performances.
Manning the crease for the Huskies has been Ryan Holfeld, having started all but one game for Saskatchewan collecting a 13-9-1 record and having won five of his past seven starts. Holfeld has been a journeyman for the Huskies leading all active goaliess in wins in the Canada West with 46. Holfeld also leads the CIS in starts and minutes played this season.
Friday and Saturday marks the second of two weekend series between the Huskies and Thunderbirds with UBC losing both contests back in mid-November by a combined score of 9-3.
The two teams that the Thunderbirds are zeroing in on for the final playoff spots are the Manitoba Bisons and Mount Royal Cougars. Both have favorable schedules including matchups against the Lethbridge Pronghorns who have managed just two wins on the season. With some help from the Pronghorns and some strong play down the stretch, the Thunderbirds still have a legitimate shot at sneaking in as either the fifth or sixth seed in the Canada West.
Both games have a 7:00 pm puck drop on Friday and Saturday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre as the team honours its graduating players in the team's final regular season home stand.
