VANCOUVER – For the fourth straight season, the UBC Thunderbirds are set to battle the Alberta Golden Bears in a best-of-three playoff series as their Canada West semifinal gets underway this Friday, February 23 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
2023-24 has seen many firsts for the T-Birds, so it's only appropriate that theme continues this weekend as UBC will host the Golden Bears for a playoff series for the first time, despite this being the 11
th such meeting between the two dating back to 1975.
"It feels different just because we're not traveling and we're not at the Clare Drake," said UBC head coach
Sven Butenschon on this year's playoff battle with the Bears. "As far as the regular season goes I think you throw it all out the window. It's a new season, they're playing their best hockey. I think it's going to be a totally different animal this weekend than the regular season."
As part of their program record win and point total, the T-Birds went an impressive 3-0-1 against the Bears in their regular season series that saw UBC begin their season-opening 10 game win streak with a home opening sweep over Alberta back at the end of September.
Finishing 18-8-2 and in fifth place, the Bears were forced onto the road to begin their post-season run which saw them advance to face UBC with a game three overtime win over the Huskies in Saskatoon.
"Instantly it gets real," said Butenschon of the feeling once Daneel Lategan scored the series clinching goal Sunday night. "Having that bye week tends to be a bit tricky mentally as far as the preparation goes. So, as soon as they score that goal your heart rate starts to increase a little bit and you feel a little bit of sweat on your upper lip there because we've had a lot of history with that team and they've ended our season a couple times here. It's a really good rivalry."
Since UBC downed the Bears in the 2020 semifinal at Clare Drake to advance to their first conference final – and national championship berth – since 1978, Alberta has won each of their last two playoff meetings including the 2022 conference final and last year's semifinal series.
That 2020 semifinal win still stands as UBC's only playoff series victory over the Bears in their previous 10 tries.
But with UBC finishing atop the conference for the first time in 61 years, the tables have certainly turned with the T-Birds now having the target on their backs as favourites.
"It's definitely a different feeling…expectations are high. But that's what you want, it's kind of a privilege to feel that pressure because of all the hard work you put in during the year. Our guys are not a young group anymore and they really held each other accountable. The captains spoke up at the beginning of the week to make sure they don't use the bye week to get loose or create bad habits. Credit the older guys for saying something in the room at the beginning of the week and there was evidence throughout the week that they really bought into that."
That hard work not only saw the 'Birds earn home ice throughout the conference playoffs, but also finish tops in goals scored (126), power play (23.6%) and penalty kill (89.1%).
While this year's Alberta team may have lacked their typical high octane offence, the Bears are no slouches. Josh Prokop, Eric Florchuk and Jakin Smallwood all finished at a point-per-game or better with nobody scoring more power play goals over the course of the Canada West regular season than Prokop.
But the special teams edge certainly favours the T-Birds. 14 of
Liam Kindree's 29 points came on the conference's top ranked power play, quarterbacked by team leading scorer
Jake Lee who finished the regular season with 11 goals and 34 points, the second highest total by any Canada West blue liner.
Despite being penalized more than any other team, the T-Birds' kill remained one of their most impressive statistics in a season full of them.
While picking apart the season's stats is not only mostly irrelevant come the playoffs, it also shows how closely matched these two teams are. With a berth in the conference final and the upcoming University Cup national championship on the line, it makes for one of the most intriguing matchups in recent memory.
Puck drop for game one of the best-of-three semifinal is set for 7:00 p.m. Friday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Game two goes at 7:00 p.m. Saturday with game three – if necessary – Sunday at 7.
Tickets are available online now with the series also available live on
Canada West TV.
