VANCOUVER – Having played four of their first six games on the road, the number one ranked UBC Thunderbirds are back on home ice Friday, October 20 to host the Trinity Western Spartans for the first half of a weekend home-and-home series.
Now into their third season in Canada West play, the Spartans (3-0-1) have quickly developed into a solid competitor, making for a proper cross-town rivalry with the T-Birds (5-0-1). It all adds up to some extra intrigue for the first of what will be two such home-and-home battles during the regular season.
"They made some strides last year and they have a new coach which probably has everyone working extra hard wanting to impress and earn roles," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas. "It's going to be a different challenge than the last couple weekends and that's the biggest message to our team right now. We need to come ready to battle and play our game and not take them lightly at all. They beat us in preseason, we can't lose sight of that and they stole one from us last year."
Coming off a pair of wins in Regina last weekend, the Spartans face their biggest test of the season in a Thunderbirds team that – like TWU – has yet to lose in regulation, while also seemingly scoring at will. UBC has scored a whopping 29 goals in their six games to date, putting up five or more in four straight contests.
"We had a power play breakthrough but it's also been just building off what we've been trying to work on," added Thomas whose team went 7-for-10 on the power play in Manitoba last weekend. "We've had good puck movement in our offensive zone play and we've been kind of building on this for a while and it's just really starting to come together. And it's our depth too. Scoring has come from all our lines and that makes us hard to defend and play against. We've had other years where offence has dried up so we just need to keep building on it."
Mackenzie Kordic has been the driving force on UBC's powerful offence, coming off a six point weekend that saw the fourth-year forward earn U SPORTS Player of the Week. Her seven goals and 12 points are both tops in the Canada West.
Perhaps the most impressive part of UBC's solid start to the season is the fact it's been mostly on the road.
"It's nice to get a couple of those road trips out of the way early on, but it's good for us to bond and everyone to get to know each other and keep a strong focus and a little bit more control over everything. But we're definitely looking forward to getting back home."
Puck drop Friday at Father David Bauer Arena is set for 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available now and the game will also be streamed live on Canada West TV.
