VANCOUVER – Back at Point Grey for just their second home weekend of the Canada West season, the UBC Thunderbirds are more than ready for some home cooking as they host a pair of familiar playoff foes in the Calgary Dinos and Mount Royal Cougars this Friday and Saturday, September 22 and 23.
Despite playing six of their eight league games on the road, the T-Birds are no worse for it, boasting a 6-0-2 record, the first time they've gone undefeated through eight games to start a season since 2014.
Now exactly halfway through the season, the number two ranked 'Birds sit comfortably atop the Pacific division with twice as many victories as their next closest rivals in Trinity Western and Victoria.
"There are lots of positives to draw on from the first eight games especially given six of those were away from home with a lot of travel," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher whose team can match their longest undefeated streak since 2013 with a win Friday. "But we can also use that as a positive, especially with a lot of new players in the group. It allows the team to gel and I think we have been able to do that quite well."
So many accolades – justifiably – have been thrown
Sebastian Dzikowski's way. The third-year forward has already scored 12 goals on the season, three times more than anyone else in the conference and four more than anyone else in the country.
But it hasn't just been the Calgary striker who has impressed so far this year. Rookie midfielder
Luke Norman leads the conference with four assists, while
Bennett McKay has allowed just three goals against in seven games. His five clean sheets is exceeded only by Mount Royal keeper Aidan Dumoulin's six, making for a potentially huge head-to-head matchup Saturday night.
"I think it's across the board to be honest," said Mosher of the big impacts made so far. "The guys who have started the majority of games, everyone has done well which makes it difficult for some of the others to get into the squad. Noah (Hrdlicka) has taken on the captaincy and the leadership and done a terrific job there, Eric (Lajeunesse) has come back from his summer in Victoria with Pacific and he's a better player.
Eric White's had a terrific season in his first year,
Chris Lee's come back into the fold and has been great.
Markus Kaiser's had a really strong season and has picked up leadership traits. Brennan (Fuerst) and Luke (Norman) have been awesome. It goes on and on, it really has been by committee."
Friday night's test against the Dinos marks the first meeting between the cross-provincial rivals since last year's Canada West Final that saw the T-Birds secure a fifth straight conference title, winning on penalty kicks.
2023 hasn't been kind to the Dinos who sit fifth in the prairie division with a 1-3-2 record.
"Some teams may have had more difficult starts but there are probably a whole lot of one goal games in there that could have swung either way. Last year we were one penalty kick away from not winning a Canada West championship and that was to this team, and they're a good team. We'll be ready for them. And then MRU has been really strong over the last several years and they're having another good season thus far, so two tough games coming up."
As for the Cougars, they're back in familiar territory atop their division with a 6-1 record thus far. The Cougars will face the UBC Okanagan Heat Friday night before heading down the Coquihalla to Vancouver for Saturday's contest at Thunderbird Stadium.
While UBC has scored 26 goals on the season, twice as many as MRU, the Cougars are by far the stingiest defence in the conference having allowed just a single goal against through seven games.
"As a coach you always want your group to face some sort of adversity. (Last Sunday's) game in Lethbridge presented some different situations within the game and the environment, and then the penalty call at the end but our guys responded brilliantly. We could have just given up and said 'let's just play out the last three minutes', but we came out and got the goal…a great response."
This weekend will in many ways be the 'Birds' biggest test of the year to this point and an opportunity to see if that determined mentality in Lethbridge carries forward.
Kickoff between the T-Birds and Dinos Friday is set for 7:30 p.m. PT at Ken Woods Field with free admission.
Saturday's match against the Cougars is at Thunderbird Stadium with a
7:00 p.m. start and tickets available now!
Both games will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
