Winners of three straight, the UBC Thunderbirds are back home for the first of two consecutive weekend series in Vancouver, starting with a pair of battles against the Calgary Dinos Friday and Saturday, October 19th and 20th at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.

UBC (2-1-1-0) is showing some excellent early season signs of added offensive depth with seven different goal scorers on their eight goals so far on the year.

The Dinos (0-3-0-1) meanwhile are still in search of their first win on the season after a pair of close battles last weekend in Saskatoon.



The T-Birds swept Calgary in their 2017-18 season series outscoring the Dinos by a 10-1 margin. UBC is on an eight-game win streak over Calgary and haven't lost in regulation against their southern Alberta rivals since November 2014.

Puck drop Friday is 7:00 p.m. PT followed by Saturday's rematch at 2:00 p.m. PT.  
 

Last Action

The T-Birds swept their weekend series against the Mount Royal Cougars in Calgary with a 2-1 double overtime win on Friday night followed by a 3-0 shutout victory on Saturday.

After losing in regulation to the visiting Saskatchewan Huskies last Friday night, the Dinos picked up their first point of the season with a 2-1 double overtime loss on Saturday.
 

By the Numbers

0 – After starting the season as the most penalized team in the Canada West, the T-Birds didn't end up in the penalty box even once in last Saturday's win over Mount Royal. UBC's penalty kill has also been strong allowing just one goal against in their last 12 shorthanded situations.



2 – The T-Birds have been defensively as solid allowing just two goals against over their last three games combined.
 

Players to Watch

Tory Micklash (#31, G) – The third-year goaltender posted her first shutout of the season and sixth of her career Saturday making 16 saves. She's off to a 2-0 start with a 0.50 goals against average and a .974 save percentage.

Rylind MacKinnon (#55, D) – MacKinnon exploded on the scoresheet last Saturday picking up three assists, her first points as a Thunderbird. The first-year defenceman from Cranbrook now leads all Canada West rookie blue liners in scoring.
 

Coach's Take

Last Saturday's 3-0 win for UBC saw the precise type of execution the Thunderbirds want to see night in and night out.

"I was really impressed with our group with our discipline, it's something we definitely want to continue," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas who was just as pleased with his team's power play as he was with their commitment to staying out of the box. "It was nice to not only see us score on the power play but just have some confidence, we saw some really good things and probably could've had one or two more."



Of the five skaters who picked up points last Saturday, three of them are rookies, a big boost for the entire team to see first-year players having an early impact.

"We have a bunch of different players who can score on any given night and it's good for some healthy competition," added Thomas. "It doesn't allow for complacency when our young players are doing good things, it'll push our entire group to be sharper."