For the second straight year and the third time in the last five seasons, the UBC Thunderbirds will face the Alberta Pandas for conference supremacy with the best-of-three Canada West Final beginning Thursday, March 6 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
A rematch of last year's championship series where the T-Birds earned their third consecutive title with a 4-2 victory in game three, the 2025 final series showcases two of the country's top programs over the past decade, the two powerhouses combining to claim the last five straight conference titles and eight of the last nine.
"It's the top in the West vs the top in the East with only a couple points separating us the entire year," said an excited UBC head coach,
Graham Thomas, who feels it's only fitting to have yet another championship battle with the Pandas. "A rematch from last year with one of the top teams in Canada in general, their program's had so much success and (head coach Howie Draper) is back, there's just so many story lines that you can pull from. But we're excited, it's going to be a great matchup, a great series and we're looking forward to it."
So little separates the two teams which closed out the regular season as the No. 1 and No. 3 nationally ranked teams, respectively. While the 'Birds finished with 51 points and 25 wins in the regular season, setting a new Canada West record in the process, the Pandas weren't far behind with 49 points and 24 wins to lead the East Division, both new program records.
While UBC holds the edge in goals for (107 vs 73), power play (24.3% vs 16.8%), and penalty kill (91.9% vs 88%), the Pandas finished the regular season as the conference's top defence, allowing just 29 goals against to UBC's 34.
The historic rivals met just twice during the regular season with UBC earning a pair of regulation wins in Edmonton. Thursday night will mark the first visit to Vancouver for the Pandas since last March's Canada West Final.
The earlier start to this year's series combined with a quick turnaround for the Pandas could provide an additional edge to the three-time defending champions. Alberta advanced to their second straight conference final with a remarkable game three comeback win against the Mount Royal Cougars on Sunday. Trailing late in the third, Abby Soyko tied the game 2-2 while Natalie Kieser scored the series clinching goal just 2:23 into overtime.
But what happened last week, let alone last year, matters little for the task at hand this week. While both teams have also already clinched berths at the upcoming U SPORTS National Championship, all-important seeding is at stake, along with the pride of earning the conference crown.
"It's a very unique situation to be in where you have the opportunity to go in as a number one seed," said Thomas. "Other years we've gone in still really strong in the country but end up getting ranked lower. But this year, we're in that spot and it's something we have to use as extra motivation for sure."
The 'Birds advanced to their fourth straight conference final with a two game semifinal victory over the Bisons last weekend, the first semifinal sweep for UBC since doing so against the Pandas in 2022.
"It's all business, they're very focussed. We have a very strong room, there's not anyone pulling in the other direction. It just kind of has a bit of a different feel to it than it has in the past. We still got a lot of work to do, we have five wins ahead of us here to get it done so we just really need to put all the other stuff behind us. But we need to put nationals aside, put everything aside and just be all business this weekend. Just one game at a time, one period, one shift at a time and I think that's kind of where our heads are at for this week. The group's in a positive place, we're confident and we're just going to come and play loose and play hard."
Game one of the Canada West Final is set for 7:00 p.m. PT Thursday, March 5 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Game two goes Friday at 7:00 p.m. with game three – if necessary – slated for 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 7.
Tickets for the first two games are available now and both will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
