2005 has been proven to be a very good year for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. Since Canada West Hockey resumed its conference schedule in January, the Thunderbirds have been almost unstoppable, posting a six-game undefeated streak. Milan Dragicevic's squad has not lost in the New Year with a 5-0-1 record from January 7th to 22nd.
UBC won its third and fourth consecutive conference games with a two-game sweep of the visiting University of Regina Cougars as the Thunderbirds skated to 5-2 and 5-3 wins at the Thunderbird Winters Sports Centre on Friday-Saturday, January 21st-22nd. The two victories gives UBC a 4-12-4 conference record and the Thunderbirds are now in third place in the conference's Mountain Division and hold a six point advantage over the fourth place University of Lethbridge Pronghorns in the race for the final playoff position in the division.
UBC's two victories was the lone sweep registered in the three series played on the weekend. The second ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies needed overtime in both games of their series against Lethbridge as they took three of four points from the Pronghorns with a 2-2 tie in the series opener on Friday and a 5-4 win on in the finale on Saturday. The other series saw the fourth ranked University of Manitoba Bisons take two of four points in a road series against the University of Calgary Dinos. Manitoba took the series opener 5-2 at Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary on Friday before the Dinos snapped a six-game winless streak (0-3-3; Dec. 30-Jan. 21) with a 3-1 victory on Saturday.
Newcomers have played a pivotal role in UBC's second-half surge in the standings. Goaltender Doug Groenestege and forward Kyle Bruce have provided the Thunderbirds with some added skill that has paid dividends for UBC through the first three weeks of January. Groenestege has played in all but one of UBC's six games thismonth and is undefeated with a 5-0-0 record, a 1.80 goals-against average and a .932 saver pecentage with one shutout. Against Regina, Groenestege made 33 saves in Friday's win and 31 more in Saturday as Regina out shot the Thunderbirds in both games.
Offensively, Bruce has been the Thunderbirds catalyst, netting 13 points, including eight goals, in only six games. Ten of Bruce's 13 points have come in Canada West Hockey play, as the right winger has scored 6-4-10 in only four conference games and has moved into sixth place on the UBC scoring list. In Friday's game, Bruce and his linemates Dustin Paul and Casey Bartzen accounted for all five UBC goals as the trio combined to score 11 points. Paul led the way with a three-goal game, with the game winning goal included in his hat trick, and the UBC captain added an assist for a four point game. Bruce also had four points with two goals and two assists, while Bartzen chipped in three assists.
Bartzen and Bruce were once again front and center in the Thunderbirds win on Saturday. Bartzen added another three points as he scored a goal and two assists, while Bruce scored the game winning goal and an assist. The goal for Bartzen was his first of the season. Bartzen, who leads UBC in both conference and overall scoring, is tied for 11th place in the Canada West Hockey scoring race with 1-19-20 in 18 games and he is third in assists. Overall, he is second in the conference with 26 assists and is also tied for 11th place on the overall scoring list with 1-26-27.
For Regina, who saw its winless streak extended to four games (0-2-2; Jan. 14-22) with the two losses at UBC, Adam Fraser led the way offensively with a three-point weekend as the Cougars captain scored a powerplay goal in the series opener on Friday and added two assists on Saturday. Chad Anderson added powerplay goals in both games and Jason Weitzel scored 1-1-2 in the series second game.
The story in Saskatoon was the play of Pronghorns goaltender Jamie McCaig. Although the Pronghorns earned only a si