VANCOUVER – The five-time defending Canada West champion UBC Thunderbirds enter the 2023 season as the odds on favourites to extend that streak to six straight banners. The new T-Birds campaign officially gets underway Friday as the blue and gold face a stiff test right off the hop by way of a pair of weekend games in Prince George against the UNBC Timberwolves.
"It's not an easy start at all. UNBC has played us really tough over the last several years in meetings with them so it'll be a good challenge, a good litmus test for where we're at at this stage of things," said UBC head coach,
Mike Mosher, as he enters his 28
th season at the T-Birds' helm. "(UNBC head coach Steve Simonson) does a terrific job with the group he has and growing that program. We look forward to the challenge we have this weekend."
The Timberwolves took a big step forward last year, finishing third in the Pacific division with an 8-5-3 record and have indeed played the 'Birds tough, managing a win and two draws in their last three meetings dating back to the 2021 season.
But both teams enter the new year looking very different from their last battle. UBC alone has graduated eight players from their 2022 Canada West championship squad. Despite the turnover, the team's depth might be just as good as ever.
"After a couple weeks I'm happy with where we're at," said Mosher after a successful preseason of training and scrimmages. "I think a good two-plus weeks into training everyone is sharp. We've progressively gotten better day by day and that's important. It's never easy with the amount of change and transition, but I'm definitely happy with the overall quality that we have in the group."
The biggest challenge for a team that lost the likes of
Victory Shumbusho,
Thomas Gardner and
Daniel Kaiser among several other starters is the continuity of leadership and culture. But even with the loss of those eight graduating players, others who have been with the program for a number of years such as
Noah Hrdlicka and
Sebastian Dzikowski are helping to shepherd things along.
"We've had a really good competitive winning culture here for many years and it does get passed down as guys graduate out," added Mosher. "But another cornerstone of this program is competition. The competitiveness at every single position meaning nothing is giving, you got to go and earn it. So the overall quality and depth within the group, as much as there's new faces, I'm confident that depth is similar to what we've had in previous years."
And as far as the expectations for the team, everyone agrees with the consensus coaches' poll – that the T-Birds should find themselves hoisting yet another conference banner come early November.
"Every year, that's where the bar is and we don't apologize for it. You're going to see everyone's best week in and week out and we don't expect anything less. We want to keep the standards as high as we can for us and for our league. We look forward to every challenge and every weekend and despite changes, that's where the goal is at. Let's go and win a conference championship and set that bar and once you get that achieved, let's go win a national championship."
The 2023 season opener against the Timberwolves gets underway at 7:45 p.m. PT Friday in Prince George with Sunday's rematch set for 2:15 p.m. PT on Sunday. Both games will be available live on
Canada West TV.
