TORONTO, ON – When the UBC Thunderbirds take to the ice at the 2024 U SPORTS men’s hockey championships, they do so with the weight of years of disappointment now lifted from their shoulders.
After 53 years without a conference title, the Thunderbirds captured the Canada West men’s hockey championship, beating the Calgary Dinos in a best-of-three series while hosting the final for the first time in program history.
While the Thunderbirds once went 44 years without a home playoff game and rattled through three coaches in as many years before the 2017 hiring of now-head coach Sven Butenschön, there’s calming chaos in the program as it approaches a 2024 U CUP quarterfinal bout with the McGill University Redbirds.
For the third time in four seasons, the Thunderbirds have punched their ticket to the national championship in what has been a methodical build since Butenschön took over, with that initial recruiting class setting the tone for what the program has become with a University Cup berth in 2019-20.
“You always want to progress at a high pace and continue to grow with the program, but it’s not always going to be smooth,” Butenschön said ahead of the Canada West Final. “You have to take your lessons from every game and every season when building a roster and style of play… when you lose, you have to look in the mirror and figure out what you can do differently.”
Coming into the U CUP as champions is a largely unknown task for the Thunderbirds after qualifying as Canada West runner-ups in their previous two appearances, losing to the University of Alberta Golden Bears and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the final.
A step back powers a strong start
When UBC missed the mark last year, a small step back in their rise, it came against the same Golden Bears that had dashed their conference championship dreams the year prior, just in the semifinal.
That series loss to the eventual U CUP finalists kept UBC in Vancouver, while Alberta and Calgary represented Canada West at the 2023 U CUP in Charlottetown, PEI.
After missing the U CUP with that loss to Alberta, UBC got quick revenge in the opening weekend of the 2023-24 season, beating the Golden Bears twice on home ice to start their season.
UBC looked dominant, leaving the opening weekend with 5-1 and 4-2 victories over a rebuilding Alberta program.
“We knew we wanted to beat the Golden Bears, and we did a great job in training camp with so much focus and attention to detail that we were ready to go right off the get-go for the regular season,” Butenschön said, looking back to the fall.
“It was kind of poetic justice again, hosting Alberta that [first] weekend, the team that ended your season the year before; it’s a bit of a neat script, the way it had it all worked out.”
Having knocked off Alberta and Calgary in the Canada West playoffs and finishing atop the conference standings with a 22-4-0 record, the Thunderbirds approach this year’s U SPORTS tournament not just with hopes of advancing but believing they can medal, if not win the national banner.
Ready for a massive challenge
While the UNB Reds, UQTR Patriotes, TMU Bold and the four other programs will provide a stiff challenge to any U SPORTS title hopes, UBC will hit the ice of the former Maple Leaf Gardens with one of the best rosters in the country, all hitting their stride at the same time.
Dynamic defenceman Jake Lee led the Thunderbirds in scoring this year, chipping in 11 goals and 34 points from the blue line, and will be relied upon heavily at the U CUP, likely along with Conner McDonald, with that pair being the most consistent defensive presence this season.
Jonathan Smart, who has also played a critical role on UBC’s defence over his U SPORTS career, could also return to the lineup after missing the Canada West final with an injury.
Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds’ forwards proved to be the best in Canada West, with the offence scoring a conference-high 126 goals, led by Liam Kindree’s 15 goals and 29 points, as the third-year forward has had a scoring explosion with a previous career-high of six goals and 19 points.
Behind Kindree, the talent and form don’t sway either. Former Colorado Avalanche prospect Sasha Mutala also posted 29 points playing with Kindree, while captain Chris Douglas and veteran forward Scott Atkinson also scored over a point per game this season.
Douglas, in particular, enters the U CUP in fine form, scoring in the three Canada West final games against Calgary.
“You want to play for a championship, and I haven’t been able to play for a championship in seven or eight years since I was in my teenage years,” Douglas told UBC Athletics after the final victory. “I’m just so proud of every single guy. I hope guys can look back and be like, ‘I was a part of this,’ the guys who aren’t here right now but are alumni. I’m so happy right now; it’s unexplainable what I’m feeling right now.”
With one championship under their belts, UBC’s hopes for a U SPORTS medal and potential banner are thriving as they make their way east to Toronto and look to make some more history in Ontario, having lost the first-ever University Cup Final in 1963 to the McMaster Marauders just a few hours away in Kingston.