VANCOUVER – Looking to advance to the Canada West gold medal game for the second straight season, the UBC Thunderbirds face a strong test in their conference final four semifinal matchup with the MacEwan Griffins Friday night in Langley.
It's a battle between two offensive powerhouses, both of whom also rarely concede a goal. But only one will be able to advance to Saturday's conference final while also earning a berth into the upcoming U SPORTS National Championship.
"We've been really focussed just on our identity of making it difficult for teams to play against us and keeping control of games and it's no different regardless of how this weekend goes, that's our job," said UBC Head Coach Jesse Symons whose squad is aiming for back-to-back trips to the national tournament for the first time since 2016. "Everyone's healthy, everyone's ready to go and we're excited to put our best foot forward against MacEwan."
Advancing to this weekend's final four with a 5-0 destruction of the Regina Rams at Thunderbird Stadium last Friday, the T-Birds' offence is clicking on all cylinders, but it's UBC's stingy defending which might give them the biggest edge over their opponents.
UBC finished the regular season conceding just four goals against through 12 games, tied with the Final Four host Trinity Western Spartans for the fewest, while also setting a new single-season program record.
As for MacEwan, it's their offence which has powered them to this point, scoring 32 goals in 12 regular season games, second only to TWU in the Canada West. The Griffins added another pair in last weekend's 2-0 win over the Fraser Valley Cascades in their quarter-final matchup.
The Griffins have had a stellar campaign to this point, putting up a 10-2 regular season record, the second highest number of wins in the entire league.
"MacEwan's had a really good season, they finished strong beating Calgary to win the division and we know they're going to be a good opponent," added Symons. "MacEwan has really built as a program, they've been a perennial team within the Canada West final four and we've had very tight games with them. We're expecting a tough opponent who's going to keep the ball and try and move it and try and unbalance us, I think it's going to be a fantastic game Friday night."
The defending U SPORTS champion T-Birds last faced the Griffins in September of 2018 when UBC earned a 1-0 regular season win in Edmonton. Friday night's semifinal marks the third all-time playoff meeting between the two squads, with UBC winning each of the previous two: a 1-0 victory in the conference bronze medal match in 2016, and a 2-1 win in the Canada West semifinal the following year, both also played in Langley.
The winner of Friday's semifinal will face either Saskatchewan or the host Spartans in Saturday's conference gold medal match while also securing one of two Canada West berths at the U SPORTS National Championship in Nova Scotia.
Kickoff between the T-Birds and Griffins is set for 7:30 p.m. PT at Chase Office Field in Langley. The game will be streamed live on Canada West TV.
