It's a quick turnaround for the UBC Thunderbirds as they host the Trinity Western Spartans Thursday, October 9 at Father Bauer Arena for the first half of a home-and-home series with their cross-town rivals.
The unusual Thursday home date comes on the heels of a mixed bag of a season opening weekend for the 'Birds who did manage a resounding bounce back win over the Griffins Saturday afternoon in an effort that will need to be repeated against a gritty and improved Spartans squad.
"They took Alberta to the third period, almost the final minute there on Friday night, and a similar situation on Saturday," said UBC head coach,
Sven Butenschon, on Trinity Western giving the Golden Bears a tough battle in Edmonton last weekend. "Watching some of their scoring chances for, they look confident and they look like they can make plays that maybe other years they haven't been able to. I think you're going to see a defensive-minded team that has the ability to make plays, and they've always had great goaltenders."
Returning Trinity goaltender Leon Sommer played both games in Edmonton and was peppered with a combined 91 shots, but still posted a .912 save percentage. UBC enjoyed a tremendous performance Saturday by second-year
Brett Mirwald who earned his first Canada West shutout in a 20 save win over the Griffins.
A key for the T-Birds Thursday will be to start their second series of the Canada West regular season on a far better footing than they did the first.
Saturday's 6-0 win over MacEwan saw the 'Birds certainly look more like their usual selves in all facets. The icing on the cake was
Nathan Sullivan's third period power play goal although special teams continues to be an area of extra focus early this season for a T-Birds team which fell short of their own expectations last year.
"I thought our PK looked very structured and on the same page," Butenschon said after his squad went a perfect five-for-five on the kill last week. "Power play, I still think we got a lot of work to do there, we practice it a lot, it wasn't good enough last year. Everyone's individual numbers were down, our team numbers were down so I think we got to take a little more pride in the power play and just look in the mirror and if you're out there, you have to be able to contribute."
Since joining the Canada West in 2021, the Spartans have never earned a win against the T-Birds, going 0-29 in both regular season and exhibition play. But last season TWU proved on more than one occasion how tough an out they can be. After going 0-2 to start the season, the level of urgency for the Spartans will be high – all the more reason for the 'Birds to match, if not exceed, that level on what's a shorter preparation week.
"We just had to snap back into attention one day quicker. We basically had to check off some certain areas we need to work on and we got started on that (Monday). We've had another good day as far as getting reps in on areas I feel we need to improve on and the group's responded really well. I think just having a little more sense of urgency in anything you do in life really matters so, way better focus, way better energy, way better attention to details by the group, and you have to have that if we're playing on a Thursday."
Puck drop for the first of six regular season meetings between the T-Birds and Spartans is set for 7:00 p.m. Thursday at Father Bauer Arena. Tickets are available online and the game will also be streamed live on
Canada West TV.