VANCOUVER – After wrapping up first place in the Canada West regular season standings last weekend the UBC Thunderbirds (10-2-3) are set to open the CW quarterfinal playoff action this Friday, October 25 when they host the Alberta Golden Bears (5-6-3) for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff at Thunderbird Stadium.
The T-Birds will be looking to book their ticket to nationals in Montreal two weeks away in early November hoping to build on another impressive regular season that saw them claim top spot in the Pacific Division and all of CW with 33 points. Meanwhile the Golden Bears come to town after a comfortable fourth place finish in the Prairie Division with 18 points.
The 'Birds enter the post season ranked No. 6 in the country and last met Alberta just over a month ago on the road, managing a convincing 5-1 victory in Edmonton. On the day, UBC received scoring from
Ryan Arthur (two goals), while
Jackson Farmer,
Victory Shumbusho and
Thomas Gardner also found the back of the net for the visitors.
Last Action
Both the T-Birds and Golden Bears came away with split decisions to conclude the regular season campaign last weekend. UBC dropped a surprising 4-1 road decision against Trinity Western University on Friday, October 18 before bouncing back two days later with a 3-0 home turf victory over UFV. Ahead of Sunday's win over the Cascades the 'Birds recognized their five graduating seniors including
Kerman Pannu who was in on the scoring along with
Sam Fletcher and
Thomas Gardner with a signature free kick dagger for the blue and gold.
Alberta's season came to a close with a pair of home games, starting with a 2-1 setback against the Saskatchewan Huskies but followed up upon with a rebound 2-0 victory over the Lethbridge Pronghorns.
The T-Birds head into the post season as a balanced and complete team, boasting the conference's top offence having scored a league high 35 goals, led by third-year forward
Victory Shumbusho who tallied a CW high 10 markers during the regular season. The 'Birds were fairly stingy at the other end as well having given up the second least goals against with just 14, which includes shutting out opponents on seven occasions.
On the other side the Golden Bears ranked seventh in the league in total goals for with 19, led by second-year striker Garry Onyejelem's seven goals this season. Alberta also played well defensively finishing with the fifth best goals against in the league with 19, allowing just five more than UBC while claiming five shutouts.
Coach's Take
UBC head coach
Mike Mosher is confident with his squad's maturity and ability as they prepare for post season play.
"I think we have a pretty experienced group that are motivated to do well in the playoff," said Mosher. "With several experienced players hopefully comes some comfort in playing in big games at this time of the season."
Mosher also sized up the competition and stressed that the T-Birds can't focus on their regular season encounter with Alberta because many elements change at this time of year.
"Every game is different and we need to be prepared for changes. The balance of games often swings on goals and when the get scored and perhaps the game in Alberta earlier this year was one of those games as we scored a couple right before half to get up 3-1. We cannot be naive to think it will be a game like that."
