After a weekend sweep and dominant display on both sides of the puck last week, the challenge for the UBC Thunderbirds now is to continue their recent strong play while finishing out the 2019 portion of the Canada West season on the road.

The 'Birds (4-5-3) are faced with a strong test when they visit the second place Mount Royal Cougars (8-3-1) this Friday and Saturday, November 22^nd and 23^rd in Calgary.

It's the first of two straight weekend series against the top two teams in the conference as UBC heads to Alberta the following weekend to face the number one ranked team in the country in the Golden Bears.



Finally healthy and on the heels of a complete performance that saw scoring contributions from all four lines as well as the blue line, it's a welcome challenge for the 'Birds who have three wins in their last five games and points in three straight.

The 'Birds now find themselves tied with the Manitoba Bisons for the final two playoff berths while the conclusion of this weekend will mark the official halfway point of the season.

Friday night marks the first meeting between the 'Birds and Cougars since they met in the 2019 conference quarter-finals with MRU ending UBC's season in three games. The T-Birds and Cougars split their regular season series last year with the home team winning all four times.

Puck drop Friday night at Flames Community Arenas is 6:00 p.m. PT while Saturday's game is set for 2:00 p.m. PT.
 

Last Action

The 'Birds earned their first series sweep of the season taking both games against the Lethbridge Pronghorns by a combined 12-1 margin. Friday night's 7-1 win featured both the largest margin of victory and the highest single game goal total in the Sven Butenschon era.



The Cougars split a home-and-home series with the Calgary Dinos with each team picking up a win at home. MRU earned a 5-4 double overtime victory last Thursday night but fell 4-3 to the Dinos on Friday.
 

Players to Watch

Tyler Sandhu (#19, F) – Scoring his first career hat trick Friday night, the third-year T-Bird added another goal and an assist Saturday while earning Canada West's third star of the week. The former Tri-City American forward leads the 'Birds in goals with seven and points with 11.



Quinn Benjafield (#22, F) – Scoring his fourth goal and adding a pair of assists last weekend, Benjafield leads all T-Bird rookies with four goals and eight points on the season. His four goals also has him tied for the Canada West rookie goal scoring lead.
 

Coach's Take

The T-Birds look to be headed in the right direction of late but there's an awareness they can't be getting overconfident with the challenges that lie ahead.

"It's going to be a huge test for us, Mount Royal's had a great start to the season, they've got a lot of high end offensive players," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon who will face the Cougars for the first time since they eliminated the 'Birds from the playoffs in February. "They're always organized, they play on the large Olympic ice surface so it's a bit of a different style of game. We just have to play a smart 60 minutes with sustained pressure and be good with the puck."



Results against the Pronghorns last weekend were impressive and certainly a confidence booster, but it was also long overdue.

"It's not like we did a bunch of things that were unlike us, we just stuck to the game plan," explained Butenschon whose team has scored first in four of their last five games. "It takes a lot of mental energy when you're always chasing the game. It's a huge thing to come out of the gate strong and dictate the pace of play and that's going to be one of our challenges."