VANCOUVER – The number four ranked UBC Thunderbirds hope to begin 2024 right where they left off last year as they host the Manitoba Bisons Friday and Saturday, January 5 and 6, as the Canada West regular season resumes for the first time in five weeks.
Entering the New Year on a three-game win streak and sitting in first place in the conference, the T-Birds (14-1-3) are almost guaranteed to finish the current campaign with a home ice playoff berth now with just ten games remaining in the season. But with the second place Pandas sitting just one point behind and Mount Royal another two points back of Alberta for third, there's plenty of potential jockeying left to be done as UBC aims to put themselves in the best position to take a run at a third straight conference title.
"We just have to focus on ourselves and what we can control and that still has to be our process," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas. "We know we're going to be somewhere in the top four by the looks of it and for us it's good to know the pressure is still there."
While the T-Birds can't afford any slip ups if they want to secure a top two berth – and a coveted first round bye – the same can be said for the Bisons (6-9-1) who are in a heated battle with Trinity Western, Calgary and Regina for one of the final three spots.
"They're going to come in desperate and playing a playoff style of hockey right away," Thomas continued. "Every point is just as important for us but it's very important for them too. They're a different team (than when they last played UBC). I would say that was the low of their season against us and they've been better since then. They're going to be desperate and we have to make sure we're ready."
When the T-Birds visited Winnipeg back in October, UBC had their way with the Bisons, posting a pair of dominant wins by a combined 13-2 margin. Those two games were among seven of the T-Birds' first eight contests of the season where they scored at least five goals. But since then, the blue and gold haven't put up more than four on any occasion, averaging 2.6 per game.
"It's harder to score goals down the stretch and other teams get better defensively, but our offence started out like crazy and it's been sort of a slow decline. We have good puck possession time but we need to capitalize on it more and bury more pucks. We'll try some new line combos and some new things."
While UBC's offence may have slowed down, there's no real reason for concern as the team has scored 73 through 18 games this season, 19 more than Mount Royal's second best Canada West offence. Fourth-year forward Mackenzie Kordic continues to set the pace with 26 points, the top scorer in the entire country.
A pair of wins this weekend would inch the T-Birds closer to locking up a playoff spot for an 11th straight season.
Puck drop Friday against the Bisons is set for 7:00 p.m. PT at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre with Saturday's rematch scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Tickets are available online now and both games will also be streamed live on Canada West TV.
