VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds are set to host the Calgary Dinos in the post-season for the first time in ten years when the two kick off a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series Friday, February 23 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
Securing first in the conference and home ice advantage throughout the post-season for the second straight year, the T-Birds only had to await their opponent which comes in the form of the Dinos who upset this year's national championship host Saskatchewan Huskies in a quarter-final last weekend.
"They got some high-end forwards that are playing really well right now," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas whose squad hosts a semifinal series for the third straight season. "They play with a lot of great structure. They all play a disciplined game and a solid team game, sort of defence first. They pressure, they're physical and they have strong goaltending. Just all around they're clicking at the right time."
After dropping game one of their quarter-final against the Huskies, Dinos goaltender Gabriella Durante put up back-to-back shutouts to punch Calgary into the semifinals for the first time since 2015.
A quick look at the regular season standings shows the T-Birds with a massive advantage over Calgary in every major category. UBC finished with double the number of wins (24 vs 12), nearly twice as many points (a record 51 vs 26), 54 more goals scored and 40 fewer against.
But the only glaring number from UBC's stellar 2023-24 campaign remains the lone regulation loss which came at the hands of the Dinos back on November 24.
"They caught us not on our 'A' game when they came here so I think our players are a little bit fired up on that," said Thomas. "It's going to be a good matchup. We can't take this team lightly at all, they're a very solid team. They just beat another solid program in Saskatchewan so we just have to make sure we're playing our game."
The regulation loss was followed by a 4-1 T-Birds win the following afternoon as UBC and Calgary split their only two games of the season.
This weekend's semifinal series is the first post-season matchup between the two since 2014 when the 'Birds swept the Dinos in the quarter-finals a year after defeating Calgary for UBC's first conference title in program history.
Since then, the 'Birds have gone on to win another four Canada West championships with eyes on the first three-peat since the Alberta Pandas won seven straight from 2002 to 2008.
"Nobody wants to see us win another Canada West title or have success in general. That's fine, we accept that, we know where we're at and we've got the target on our back for sure. We've had that all year, we've faced everyone's best game and that's been good to prepare us for these moments. The ups and downs that this year's brought has really prepared our group for anything. I feel like we've really gotten stronger though the adversity we've faced and I think that's going to go a long way for our group."
In years past, a win in the semifinals not only secured a berth in the following week's conference final but also at the U SPORTS national championship. With the Saskatchewan Huskies hosting this year, that removes one of the allocated Canada West berths meaning only the conference champions will now be joining the hosts in Saskatoon come mid-March, upping the ante for an already consequential semifinal series.
Game one of the best-of-three between the T-Birds and Dinos gets underway at 3:00 p.m. Friday, February 23 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Game two is set for 3:00 p.m. Saturday with game three – if necessary – scheduled for 3:00 on Sunday. Tickets are available online now and the series will also be available live on Canada West TV.
