Less than a week after knocking off the number three seeded Saskatchewan Huskies in two straight games, the UBC Thunderbirds look to continue their post-season assault as they face the top-seeded Alberta Pandas in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series starting Friday, February 21
st in Edmonton.
The 'Birds entered last weekend's series as 19-point underdogs while the Pandas finished the regular season a whole 25 points ahead of UBC in the standings.
Alberta boasted a 20-win regular season with an impressive +50 goal differential, including a sweep over UBC in their four-game season series.
While the Pandas rested last weekend, the T-Birds gained some serious traction and confidence. It's a very different looking team compared to the last time UBC visited northern Alberta when they dropped both halves of the season-opening double header by a combined 14-1.
The last time the T-Birds and Pandas faced each other in the post-season was in the 2017 conference final where UBC defeated Alberta in three games en route to their second consecutive Canada West championship.
Puck drop for game one of the semifinal is 1:00 p.m. PT Friday, February 21
st at Clare Drake Arena. Game two is scheduled for Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and game three, if necessary, will go Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
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Last Action
The T-Birds advanced to their eighth straight semifinal with the two-game sweep of the Huskies, both wins coming in overtime. UBC captain
Mathea Fischer scored the overtime winner in game one Friday while
Hannah Clayton-Carroll clinched the series with the only goal of game two, late into double OT.
Alberta finished the regular season 19-8-1-0 to clinch home ice throughout the Canada West post-season as well as a bye through the quarter-finals. The defending conference champions are looking to advance to their third Canada West final in the last four years.
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Players to Watch
Tory Micklash (#31, G) – The fourth-year goaltender made 38 saves for her second career playoff shutout in game two last Saturday, earning Canada West women's second star of the week. In eight career playoff games, Micklash has a 5-3 record with a 1.30 GAA and a .940 save percentage.
Mathea Fischer (#26, F) – UBC's captain leads the Canada West playoff scoring race with a goal and three assists. The fifth-year forward scored the overtime game winner in game one along with two assists and followed up by setting up Clayton-Carroll's series-clinching goal in game two.
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Coach's Take
The T-Birds headed into the playoffs with just one win in their final six games, but based on their play as a big underdog in Saskatoon last weekend, you wouldn't have known it.
"The resilience that we showed, the toughness, the fearlessness, just playing to win and not being afraid to lose," said UBC head coach
Graham Thomas of the strong attributes shown by his team in the quarter-finals. "We made mistakes but we managed them well and our compete level and everyone buying into the plan was a big part of it. And we believed, we had that belief and that hope which we hadn't seen much of from this team yet."
Even with some renewed confidence, the task at hand for the 'Birds doesn't get any easier.
"They're a great team and we're going to need to make sure we bring our absolute best and when we make mistakes, do a good job to recover from them," added Thomas. "We just need to continue to build off momentum and energy and just focus on the next shift and next period. We need to keep out all the distractions and stay focused."
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