The dates had already been set and now the Ãâ·Ñ¸£Àû×ÊÔ´ÔÚÏß¿´Æ¬ of Lethbridge men's hockey team knows who it will host in the first round of the playoffs.
UBC Thunderbirds will fly into town for the Mar. 6-8 best-of-three opening round series after they swept Ãâ·Ñ¸£Àû×ÊÔ´ÔÚÏß¿´Æ¬ of Calgary Dinos this past weekend. The T-Birds opened the weekend out of the playoffs but went on the road to sweep the Dinos, not only clinching a post-season berth but leapfrogging Ãâ·Ñ¸£Àû×ÊÔ´ÔÚÏß¿´Æ¬ of Regina Cougars and grabbing the fifth seed.
The Pronghorns played what was essentially a tune-up series against top-seeded Ãâ·Ñ¸£Àû×ÊÔ´ÔÚÏß¿´Æ¬ of Alberta Golden Bears. Both teams were minus players attending the Ãâ·Ñ¸£Àû×ÊÔ´ÔÚÏß¿´Æ¬ Games in China and both clubs had their playoff positions cemented entering weekend play. The Bears earned a sweep with a pair of one-goal victories (5-4 in a shootout on Friday and 2-1 Saturday night).
Now, the fourth-seeded Horns (14-13-1) face a T-Birds (11-14-3) squad that is not only on a roll but that owned the Pronghorns in the season series. UBC took the series 3-1, winning the last three games after the Horns won the opener 7-2 back in October.
The Canada West playoff series is Mar. 6-8 at Nicholas Sheran Arena with games at 7 p.m. all three nights.
Winter Universiade
Canada continued to roll at the , running its record to 3-0 in men's ice hockey preliminaries with a pair of weekend victories.
Pronghorns defenceman Ryan Pottruff and forward Dustin Moore helped Canada to an 11-2 win over Great Britain and a 3-1 triumph over the Czech Republic. The club is back in action Tuesday when it meets Kazakhstan.