After a frustrating weekend on the road in Calgary, the UBC Thunderbirds have the benefit of a very quick turnaround to game action as they visit the Trinity Western Spartans Wednesday, October 16 for the first half of a home-and-home series.

Suffering two late successful comebacks by the Mount Royal Cougars and falling to 0-1-3 on the young season, the T-Birds will be hungrier than ever to get in the elusive win column and start getting the results expected of themselves.

"Definitely happy that we can start looking at preparing to play instead of dwelling on the last weekend," said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon ahead of the first of six regular season meetings with the Spartans. "I wish we played more night games like this during the week, I think the guys are really looking forward to getting back out there and redeeming ourselves."



While the T-Birds' results from the first two weeks look bleak, there's plenty of reason to be hopeful this is a minor blip over the course of a long Canada West season.

Friday night's improbable penalty-filled comeback by MRU was followed up by yet another one-goal game Saturday. The T-Birds' special teams units – which finished 2023-24 first in both power play and penalty kill – have yet to hit their stride, the man advantage currently riding at just 9.1 percent. Given the talent in the dressing room and proof in past results, the T-Birds know they just need to stick to their guns.

"We're still trying to figure out who we are, what needs to be addressed, what areas of improvement need to be focussed on," Butenschon added. "It's a different vibe here than the last couple years. In saying that, I think the adversity is going to make us stronger in the end. We just have to stick together during these tough times and once we can figure it out we're going to be a team that's dangerous."



The Spartans have had their own share of early season struggles, staring at an 0-2 start after a pair of losses to MRU in their season opening series. Coming off a bye week, TWU has yet to play a game away from home and will certainly be motivated to avoid heading to UBC Friday night still without a single point.

While Wednesday night marks the first of six regular season meetings between the T-Birds and Spartans, UBC did notch a pair of dominant pre-season victories over TWU by a combined 12-3 margin.

In order to keep their win streak against the Spartans alive – UBC is a perfect 25-0 dating back to 2016 – the 'Birds will need to get back to basics, and channel what has been a pair of decent weekend series opening games so far this year.



"Looking back at the last two Friday games, the first one against Calgary we probably should have won," Butenschon said. "Mount Royal on Friday we definitely should have won. So, there's something to be positive about with our Friday nights, we're coming out with a lot of jam, a lot of speed, we're on our toes, we're dictating the pace of play. So we need to do that right off the hop and then once you start games on the right foot, it's easier to get back to it. If you start the game kind of slow and flat, it's just that much harder to find it during the 60 minutes. So, we just got to make sure we have a good start and build off it."

Puck drop Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre is set for 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed live on Canada West TV.