For the second straight year, the UBC Thunderbirds open the Canada West playoffs against the Mount Royal Cougars as the best-of-three quarterfinal series gets underway Friday, February 14^th at Flames Community Arenas in Calgary.

It was an up and down season for the 'Birds who find themselves on the road to begin the post-season for the first time in three years after a frustrating campaign full of injuries, bad bounces, and a snake bitten offence.

But all that matters little now for a team who finished 5-3 in the final four weeks, outscoring their opposition by a combined 28-22 in the process.

A big benefit to UBC is the fact they've essentially been playing playoff hockey for weeks, forced to claw their way out of the Canada West basement and into fifth, securing their ninth straight trip to the post-season.



Their opponent couldn't be more familiar to them, having faced these same Cougars just last week in Vancouver. MRU took the season series 3-1 having won both meetings in Calgary in November.

This series marks the third time the T-Birds and Cougars have met in the playoffs, all in the quarter-final round. Last year in Vancouver, Mount Royal needed three games to advance past the 'Birds and into the semifinals. Three years earlier, the Cougars swept the T-Birds in two straight in Calgary in their first ever post-season meeting.

Puck drop for game one goes Friday at 6:30 p.m. PT. Game two is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 p.m., and game three, if necessary, goes down on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. All games will be available on Canada West TV.  
 

Last Action

The 'Birds punched their ticket to the playoffs with a 3-2 win over Mount Royal last Friday night, one of UBC's most complete efforts of the season. The Cougars managed to answer back with a 4-2 win Saturday, scoring the final three goals of the game to get the weekend split and take the season series.


 

Players to Watch

Tyler Sandhu (#19, F) – Sandhu finished the regular season as the team leader in both goals (12) and points (23). The third year T-Bird enters the playoffs on a six-game point streak with 12 points in his final eight games. UBC will hope his hot streak carries over along with his previous production in the post-season as the former Tri-City American has seven points in six career Canada West playoff games.



Matt Revel (#10, F) – Despite missing eight games due to injury, Revel still finished the regular season tied for sixth in team scoring with 14 points. Heading into the playoffs with a three-game point streak, the Abbotsford native seems to be heating up at just the right time.
 

Coach's Take

With the T-Birds and Cougars holding no secrets from each other, there may not be any advantage to either side having just played each other. But there's no doubt familiarity breeds contempt.

"After last weekend there's a bit of hatred building up which makes playoffs that much more intense and exciting so it's going to be a blast," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon who does see a benefit to having played desperate hockey for weeks now. "I think the way we've been playing since Christmas, our lives have been on the line and we've had to make sure we come out every game getting results so I think it'll help us especially early on in the game and early in the series."



A big challenge with Mount Royal is their depth at every position making it tough to play the match-up game.

"Everybody on that forward roster is capable of scoring so it just puts more onus on every one of our players to play the right way, not just leaning on offensive situations, they have to be disciplined to defend," added Butenschon. "You might not get a scoring chance for two and a half periods, that's ok as long as you've defended and protected your goalie and aren't giving up scoring chances. It's a game of mistakes and whoever makes the least amount of mistakes is going to come out on top."