VANCOUVER – In search of their first conference title in five years, the UBC Thunderbirds host a long-time rival in the Saskatchewan Huskies for the best-of-three Canada West Final starting Friday, March 11 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Fresh off a two-game sweep of the Alberta Pandas to clinch a berth to the U SPORTS National Championship for the first time since 2017, the T-Birds know they are likely to face their toughest battle yet in the Huskies who have completed two consecutive upset sweeps, defeating both the Manitoba Bisons and first-place Mount Royal Cougars.
"They've knocked off some great teams, they're well coached, (head coach Steve Kook) has been here many times, he knows his group," said UBC Head Coach Graham Thomas in advance of his fourth conference final appearance. "They play fast and physical and obviously their goalie is playing excellent. It's going to be a great weekend of hockey, two great teams playing at their peaks. It's going to be a great matchup and a lot of fun for both teams."
This weekend marks the second straight season the T-Birds and Huskies have met in the playoffs with UBC earning a two-game sweep in the 2020 quarter-finals in Saskatoon. Despite several post-season meetings over the past decade, this is the first time the two conference rivals will meet in the Canada West Final.
The series also marks the first visit to Vancouver for the Huskies since January of 2020. UBC visited Saskatchewan this past regular season in late November, splitting the two-game series.
While the Huskies entered the post-season as the fifth seed, they've dominated their first two series, allowing just three goals against through four games while Camryn Drever leads all playoff goaltenders with a 0.74 goals against average and a .976 save percentage.
But UBC has a solid goalie of their own in Elise Hugens who picked up where she left off from the regular season, boasting .949 save percentage with just two goals against in last weekend's sweep over the Pandas.
Offensively, the T-Birds got a big boost with the game two return of the conference's regular season scoring leader,
Chanreet Bassi, who put up a three-point effort in the series clinching win.
UBC also continued to get terrific production from the blue line, led by a pair of goals and an assist from Kennesha Miswaggon.
The semifinal victory for the 'Birds has led to an excited group full of confidence going forward into the biggest three weeks the program has seen in a number of years.
"We're just really excited," added Thomas. "For us (last weekend) was a monumental win for the majority of our team and veteran players. They hadn't won a semifinal game in their time here, so these players have had that hurdle to get over. I think that win on Friday night opened up another level of confidence for our entire group."
Both the 'Birds and Huskies are certainly riding high as they enter the Canada West Final while both also have their sights set on Charlottetown two weeks down the road as they'll both represent the conference at the upcoming U SPORTS National Championship. But there's no doubt both teams are also highly motivated to secure a conference banner.
Puck drop for game one of the best-of-three final is 7:00 p.m. PT at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Game two goes Saturday, also at 7:00 while game three, if necessary, is set for Sunday at 2:00 p.m. PT.
Tickets are available for free but must be reserved in advance. The series will also be streamed live on Canada West TV.
