2016-17 record (Canada West regular season): 12 W – 13 L – 3 OTL
2016-17 record (CW playoffs): 0 W – 2 L
 
2016-17 Canada West All Stars:     Anthony Bardaro (Delta, BC), Forward (Second Team)
                                                           Jerret Smith (Surrey, BC), Defenceman (All-Rookie)
 
 
After a season full of change, the UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team is looking to hit the ground running when the 2017-18 Canada West season opens this weekend.
 
Last season the 'Birds struggled out of the gate but went 7-3-2 after January 1st and won their final four games to secure the last Canada West playoff spot, eventually losing to Calgary in the conference quarter finals.
 
After a period of four different head coaches in four years, the team now has stability at the helm as Sven Butenschon enters his second season behind the T-Birds' bench with one of the best recruiting classes in recent memory in front of him.
 
"We're vastly different," said Butenschon who has been forced to replace his top two centremen from last season after both Anthony Bardaro and Luke Lockhart joined the professional ranks over the summer.
 
"Now they're gone but we've got two rookies in (Matt) Revel and (Austin) Glover who've stepped in in the middle of the ice and done a great job on face-offs and playing the centre position."
 
The 'Birds are also entering a season without forward Joe Antilla for the first time in six years as both he and goaltender Derek Dun are also playing professionally this season.


 
Along with Revel and Glover, UBC has added Tyler Sandhu and Graham Millar to their forward ranks.
 
The T-Birds' blue line looks very familiar with a total of nine defencemen returning from last year's roster including Canada West All-Rookie Jerret Smith.
 
UBC has also bolstered the back-end with the addition of Shaun Dosanjh.
 
One of the biggest changes for this year's Thunderbirds comes in goal. Former Canada West all-star Matt Hewitt returns for a fifth season and will share duties with rookie Rylan Toth who recently ended a stellar WHL career as a champion with the Seattle Thunderbirds.
 
"I love our situation in net," said Butenschon.
 
"We got a fifth year and experienced guy who's been an all-star in this league who's got a chance to mentor a stud from the WHL. I'm counting on Matt to be the goalie he can be but also to help Rylan transition into being a collegiate athlete. Rylan's track record speaks for itself. He's been working hard with Alex Auld, our goalie coach, and he's been steadily progressing throughout September and we're really liking what we're seeing out of him."


 
Much of last season's late surge was a result of a vastly improved power play that clicked at a 25.5% pace in the final 10 games after scoring just four times on the man advantage in their first 18 games.
 
"Last year I think it was a gut check time in the second half and it was easy to get the guys to buy in because everyone knew we weren't good enough in the first half," said Butenschon.
 
"This year the challenge is going to be from day one, from the first second of the first period in the first game to be that desperate team. Can we be the resilient group that we were in the second half of last year without having to go through the learning curve before that."
 
That first test comes this Saturday, October 7th when the 'Birds start the regular season in Winnipeg against a powerful Manitoba Bisons offence.


 
"They've got some dynamic offensive players, we have to be able to shut them down," insisted Butenschon.
 
"It's going to come down to our defence being able to handle the pace of the play from their forwards and to transit the puck to our forwards as quickly as possible and let them go to work."
 
Puck drop at Winnipeg's Wayne Fleming Arena is 5:00 p.m. PT Saturday with Sunday's rematch scheduled for 11:00 a.m. PT.
 
The Thunderbirds host the Calgary Dinos for their home opener at Father Bauer Arena at 7:00 p.m. PT on Friday, October 13th.