VANCOUVER – Having already secured their place at next week's U SPORTS National Championship in Nova Scotia, the UBC Thunderbirds have the chance to secure an historic sixth straight Canada West title Saturday afternoon in Calgary when they visit the Prairie division champion Mount Royal Cougars.
While UBC looks to become the first Canada West team in history to win a sixth straight title in the playoff era (the T-Birds won six straight from 1989-1994, the first three of those before a playoff system was initiated), the Cougars are searching for their first conference banner as a program.
"They'll be motivated. Congrats to them first time qualifying for nationals, they've been so close for a number of years and we respect the job (head coach Ryan Gyaki) has done with that program," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher who's in search of his 12
th conference title. "They'll have motivation to win their first Canada West championship so we'll expect a good battle just like when we played them here. We were very good on that day to get that result so we're going to have the bring the same again on Saturday."
That lone meeting in the regular season came on September 23 when UBC earned a 2-1 victory with a pair of first half goals from Canada West Player of the Year
Sebastian Dzikowski and
Connor Mrazek. It was also one of just two regular season losses for the Cougars.
While the T-Birds comfortably secured their eighth straight conference Final appearance with back-to-back 3-0 wins last week over Calgary and Alberta, the Cougars needed extra time in both their quarter-final game against Thompson Rivers and semifinal vs the Victoria Vikes to secure their first championship berth with Miguel Da rocha scoring the winner in both.
While winning conference titles has become a thing of regularity for the T-Birds, it doesn't take anything away from the specialness that comes with being crowned Canada West champions.
"Every season's different, there's different personnel, different motivations, but at the root of it is, we want to win championships, that's what our program is about," said Mosher. "It's about having success and excellence on the field of play. So for sure, we're gunning for the Canada West title and if it happens to be the sixth in a row, fantastic."
Heading into a season in which the T-Birds saw eight players depart from last year's squad due to graduation – including several key starters and perennial All-Stars – the 2023 version of the T-Birds has been bolstered by an incredible rookie class performance, a big reason why UBC is back in the championship match.
The likes of 2023 conference Rookie of the Year
Brennen Fuerst,
Luke Norman,
Tomas Pena and
Eric White have proven their worth and then some as key pieces which will continue to be counted on if the T-Birds want to secure that sixth straight conference title and a 14
th national banner.
"I was very hopeful for what I thought coming in," said Mosher about his rookie group. "It doesn't always come off, this year so far it has so that's obviously very positive."
Kickoff for the 2023 Canada West Championship is set for 12:00 p.m. PT at Mount Royal's Stadium Field. The game will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
