VANCOUVER – For the first time in eight long weeks, the UBC Thunderbirds are back in the friendly confines of the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre as they host the Manitoba Bisons Friday and Saturday, looking to extend their four-game win streak while eyeing up a post-season berth.
The Canada West landscape looks far different now than the last time the 'Birds and Bisons played each other back in early October in Winnipeg. With just four weeks left in the regular season, the T-Birds (12-6-2) are once again in position to clinch a playoff spot while the Bisons (7-12-1) are still in search of their first win of 2023, mired in a five game losing skid and fighting to stay in contention for one of the final playoff positions, currently one point back of sixth place Regina.
Completing a weekend sweep in Saskatoon last weekend for the first time since 1990, the T-Birds are enjoying a renewed sense of confidence with six wins in their last eight games, pulling to within two points of the fourth-place Huskies for the final home playoff berth – with two games in hand.
Aside from UBC's impressive run of Canada West play since mid-November, the T-Birds have also been finding ways to win closely fought, tight battles – evidenced by last weekend's series in Saskatchewan. It's the very type of win the 'Birds know they'll need to replicate come playoff time.
"The way the standings look right now it's pretty clear that if you go out and do your thing you can get home ice in that first round, so that's the goal long term," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon. "At the same time there's still lots of room to grow. Even though we beat Saskatchewan twice, we still got to find another level because there's teams ahead of them in the standings and if you want to win a championship you have to go through Calgary, Mount Royal, or Alberta so we still need to grow in order to compete with those guys."
But before UBC's thoughts can fully turn to the post-season, they have to get past the Bisons this weekend who – in spite of their record – have the ability to be a dangerous opponent. Those offensive abilities were on full display when the T-Birds were in Manitoba earlier this season with UBC managing to put together 6-4 and 8-7 wins in a barnburner of a weekend.
"Every time we play Manitoba it's a bit of an interesting game," Butenschon explained. "Definitely got to work on defending a little bit better. They've got some guys that are very offensive. They've got a team that's fighting for their playoff lives so they're going to come in here pretty desperate."
Aside from potentially locking down a playoff spot this weekend, the T-Birds will be looking to continue a run of more consistent play.
"Our Friday night games this year we've been juiced up, energetic, legs going, lots and lots of jam to our game and then the Saturday we've had trouble replicating that. So the challenge has always been, maybe you can't run a team out of the building but you still have to be able to defend, and maybe you win a boring game. And that's something we haven't been able to do until this weekend against Saskatchewan and we almost beat them at their own game where it was a low event kind of night. You come out of the gates hot, you defend well, you keep the middle of the ice clear and you give yourself a chance and that's exactly what the guys did with a timely goal at the end."
Consistency in goal might be the most important aspect of any team at any level and if Kaeden Lane's performance last weekend in Saskatchewan – where he put up a .967 save percentage while also earning his first career Canada West shutout – is any indication, the T-Birds are headed in the right direction there too. In fact, UBC has allowed two or fewer goals in each of their games during their current win streak.
Puck drop Friday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre is set for 7:00 p.m. PT with Saturday's rematch scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Tickets for both games are available online and both will also be streamed live on Canada West TV.
