VANCOUVER – Hosting a Canada West semifinal series for the first time in 51 years, the UBC Thunderbirds are set to welcome a familiar playoff foe to the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre as the Mount Royal Cougars are Vancouver bound with a berth in both the conference final and U SPORTS National Championship up for grabs.
Starting Friday, March 4, the best-of-three series pits the T-Birds against the Cougars for the third consecutive postseason, but the first time beyond the first round. In their most recent playoff battle, the 'Birds dispatched the Cougars in a thrilling game three overtime win in the 2020 CW quarter-finals in Calgary, en route to their first University Cup appearance in 43 years.
While 25 months has passed since, many of the prominent figures on the ice and on the bench remain the same, and memories certainly haven't faded.
"(MRU) have a veteran group, they've got a lot of guys who were there a couple years ago when we played them in playoffs, so they have that in the back of their minds as a bit of revenge, payback mentality," said UBC Head Coach
Sven Butenschon who has guided the T-Birds to the playoffs in each of his five seasons at the helm. "They have the top two scorers in the league and you put (Bradley) Kennedy in there and he's up there too, so you have three of the most dynamic scorers in the league. If you can shut those guys down you give yourself a chance."
That top line of Nolan Yaremko, Riley Sawchuk, and Kennedy were responsible for six of Mount Royal's combined 11 goals in a two-game weekend sweep over the 'Birds in the two teams' only meetings of the regular season, played in Calgary the first weekend of February.
Since then, however, the T-Birds have got themselves back on track with a pair of wins at home over the TWU Spartans to close out the regular season, securing second place in the conference and hosting duties for a Canada West semifinal for the first time since 1971.
"We're feeling good, we're feeling confident," Butenschon continued. "It's not just about the second half, we have to look at the whole picture, we have to look at the way we started the season. We're pretty close to having everybody healthy and there's only been a couple games this year where we've had our full contingent up front so that's a positive. But it's playoffs and anything can happen. Being off for a couple weeks, there's gong to be an issue of timing and games, situational awareness and all that. They're going to come in here with that already and part of the planning this week is just to make sure we're ready to go Friday night when the puck drops."
The Cougars advanced to their second conference semifinal in three seasons with a two-game sweep at home over the Regina Cougars last weekend with Yaremko scoring the series clinching goal Saturday night in overtime.
While Mount Royal's offence gets plenty of attention boasting the conference's second highest regular season goal total with 92, as well as the second most potent power play at 27.4 percent, the T-Birds offensive depth could very well be a key to success this postseason.
In his final year in the blue and gold, captain
Tyler Sandhu led the pace along with second-year defenceman
Jonathan Smart, both of whom amassed 23 points, good for a share of fourth overall in the conference.
T-Birds forward Chris Douglas led the team with 12 goals, second among Canada West rookies, while nine skaters hit double digits in points in the shortened 20-game campaign, including two blue liners in Smart and Conner McDonald.
A true four-line threat combined with significant offensive contributions from the defence can make UBC tough to handle for any opposition. But the 'Birds also know solid play in their own zone is critical.
"Two years ago when we were in the playoffs we planned and focussed to play a lot in our own zone. It's not the coolest or most fun thing to focus on but if you can get comfortable being in your own zone, keeping it to the outside, and just acknowledging that it's not going to be easy, they're not going to get rebounds, they're not going to get to the middle of the ice. If they are in our own zone, we'll keep them to the outside."
The outstanding play of veteran goaltender
Rylan Toth was on full display during the T-Birds' 2020 playoff run, and the newly minted 2021-22 First Team Canada West All-Star enters his final UBC postseason after putting up 11 wins, a .920 save percentage, a 2.34 goals against average, and a conference leading four shutouts.
Puck drop for game one of the best-of-three Canada West semifinal is 7:30 p.m. PT Friday, March 4 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Game two is scheduled for Saturday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. PT with game three, if necessary, set for Sunday, March 6, also at 7:30 p.m. PT.
Tickets for all three games are available for free, but must be reserved in advance. The series will also be streamed live on Canada West TV.
