Riding a four-game win streak, the UBC Thunderbirds look to extend their recent success to close out 2018 with a bang, hosting the Lethbridge Pronghorns Friday and Saturday, November 30 and December 1.
It's the final weekend of Canada West action before the holiday and exam break, and the T-Birds (9-5-0) want to keep the pedal down after what has been one of the best first halves of a season in program history.
14 games through the 28 game regular season schedule, the 'Birds find themselves just one point back of the Calgary Dinos for third place in the conference. Meanwhile, the Pronghorns (4-9-1) hold down sixth place, four points ahead of both Manitoba and Regina, six points back of fifth place Mount Royal.
The T-Birds and 'Horns last met in the first week of the season where UBC came away with the series sweep. The 'Birds have won each of their last four games against Lethbridge in Vancouver and their last six meetings overall.
Puck drop Friday is 7:00 p.m. PT at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Saturday's 2018 finale is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. PT at Father Bauer Arena.
Tickets are on sale now or available at the door.
Last Action
UBC swept the visiting Regina Cougars with a 2-1 win Friday night followed by a 5-3 victory Saturday.
Maxwell James scored both T-Bird goals Friday while five different skaters found the back of the net the following afternoon.
The Pronghorns dropped both halves of a home-and-home set with the Mount Royal Cougars. Lethbridge lost 5-2 at home last Friday night and then dropped a 5-1 decision on Saturday in Calgary.
By the Numbers
6 – The 'Birds have played in seven one-goal games this season, more than any other team in the conference, coming away with wins in six of them.
50 – UBC scored a whopping five power play goals against the Pronghorns in Lethbridge back at the end of September going 50 percent on the weekend. The 'Birds still boast a respectable 19.6% execution on the man advantage but have not scored on the power play in their last three games.
Players to Watch
Tyler Sandhu (#19, F) – The second-year forward from Richmond is working on a three-game point streak with seven points in his last five games. Sandhu is tied with
Maxwell James for the team scoring lead with 12 points (3 G, 9 A).
Joe Carvalho (#26, D) – Carvalho had himself a three-point weekend against the Cougars and is now up to seven points on the season, all assists. The third-year defenceman is tied with
Josh Connolly for the team scoring lead among blue liners and has already equalled his point total from last year.
Coach's Take
It's been three weeks since the Thunderbirds have dressed a full lineup thanks to a multitude of injuries. But despite the adversity, the team has risen to the challenge as evidenced by last Saturday's 5-3 win with five different goal scorers and several skaters playing outside their normal positions.
"I really like the vibe in here and the buy-in, it's important to get the wins when you can, manufacture them any way you can, they all count, so we're looking for the same outcome this weekend," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon who's seen everyone that's healthy step up to the plate, especially on offence. "One weekend it's James, one weekend it's Sandhu, Vetterl. Revel is coming along nicely. It's great to have that, we're going to need that moving forward. But if you asked all those guys, I still think they have a lot more to give and I'm going to keep pushing them to do it."
The 'Birds will hopefully get up to a full compliment for Friday night, but either way, the team knows they'll need to buckle down and put their work boots on if they want to head into the break on an extended win streak.
"They're physical, they work hard, their new coach has them playing with a lot more structure," said Butenschon of the Pronghorns. "You go back to when we were in Lethbridge and they were patient, they were smart and waited for us to make mistakes and capitalize on that. They're hosting nationals so there's a lot on the line for these guys, I expect them to come out real hard."
