The UNBC Timberwolves are in a playoff position, poised to do something they’ve done only once in their 11-year history as members of the U SPORTS Canada West Conference.
Ranked third in the Pacific Division and owners of a 6-4-2 record, the T-wolves still have a shot at first place, depending on how the final two weekends of the season shake down. UNBC could also drop out of sight from a postseason berth. It’s that close, with six teams still in the fight for a top-four position.
The T-wolves will be back on home turf Saturday at noon against the UBC-Okanagan Heat, the first of a doubleheader that continues Sunday afternoon. The Heat (4-4-3, fifth place) are one of the teams the T-wolves have to beat to keep their hopes of a regular season title alive. If UNBC wins both, that puts pressure on the division-leading Thompson Rivers University WolfPack (7-3-3) and UBC Thunderbirds (6-3-2, second place) to maintain their winning ways.
UNBC wraps up the regular season with road games Oct. 21 and 23 against the Fraser Valley Cascades. The Cascades (5-4-2, fourth place) won both their games last weekend to remain in the playoff hunt. The Trinity Western Spartans (5-7-2, sixth place) have lost four straight but could also move up the standings with four games left.
Thompson Rivers has a bye this weekend, then will head out on the road to face Victoria and UBC next weekend. UBC is in action Friday at Fraser Valley and plays Trinity Western on Saturday. The T-birds are then at hone to take on UBC-O and Thompson Rivers.
“We’ve got two weeks left and obviously we’re in good position but we’re not locked in yet and we have to be very aware of that,” said T-wolves head coach Steve Simonson. “The results last weekend were, in a way, scary because it brought some of the teams that were sitting a bit lower really close to us. But what it also did was it kept the teams ahead of us within catching distance. We’ve put ourselves in a position where we can actually catch both of them if everything goes according to plan.”
T-wolves fourth-year striker Michael Henman continues to amaze with his goal-scoring antics. Despite missing a game with a yellow-card suspension, Henman leads all shooters in Canada West with a mindboggling 16 goals in 11 games (UNBC’s team total is 25 goals). The Victoria native has posted four hat tricks and has three game-winning goals. He also has one assist to maintain his spot as the league’s leading pointgetter.
The T-wolves have allowed just 14 goals in 12 games and they have goalie Daniel Zadravec to thank. He’s stopped a league-leading 56 shots and is tied with two other goalies with a conference-high five shutouts. The third-year native of Victoria also sports an .800 save percentage, third-best in Canada West. Zadravec allowed just one goal in two games last weekend against UBC. He made six saves to preserve a 2-1 win in first game 2-1 and blocked all 14 shots he faced in a scoreless draw wit the T-birds in the Sunday rematch.
“Because of the nature of how we defended we sat in a little deeper against UBC, which is going to invite crosses and shots, and we needed our defence and goaltender to do their jobs,” said Simonson. “Dan did his job really well and went above and beyond with a few top-end saves. It’s what you need out of a goaltender.”
UNBC’s defensive depth was tested early in the season when veteran centrebacks Mitch Linley (broken foot) and Damien Dron (knee) were sidelined with injuries but rookie replacements Hagon Kim of Korea and Kayden Miner of Victoria have filled in admirably.
The T-wolves’ success this year is a product of years of building a team strategy and a renewed commitment from the players to buy into Simonson’s systems.
“The way we’re attacking, we changed our approach a couple years back and we’re starting to see goals come from that attacking mindset and we’re creating the goals,” said Simonson. “Obviously Michael Henman is getting a lot of the discussion because he’s the one scoring a lot of the goals. Some of them have been single-handed great individual efforts from him and many of them have been team goals where he’s on the end of things, to tap in a good team performance.
“The other thing that we’re really seeing is a real belief from every player in the defensive side of the game. For us to get four points off UBC, we had to defend perfectly, and they were still knocking on the story all the time, and that’s how good they are. But if you look at us this year, there have been many games where we’ve allowed zero goals or one goal and every one of those games I think we’ve won (or tied) them. It’s the games where we’ve given up two or more goals, we’ve lost them all.”
Since they joined Canada West in 2012, the UNBC men have made the postseason cut just once, in 2018, when they finished third with a 6-4-2 record. They went on to face UBC and lost 3-1 in a game to get to the Canada West final four.
“UNBC, as a soccer grogram, both men and women, as a sport institution in soccer and basketball, and as a school, is a really special place and sometimes it takes results for people sometimes to take that seriously,” said Simonson.
“You can talk process all you want and have a really good culture but a lot of people will base success solely on the outcomes. It’s not solely what we base it on but it’s nice to see that’s coming through so far. We’re not out of the woods yet and we have to stay grounded but I think we’ve shown people that we’ve grown into a program that is very competitive in Canada West.”
THe UNBC women (4-5-3, fifth place) are in action Friday night (6 p.m.) at Masich against Thomson Rivers, then follow the men's game Sunday against UBC-0 (2:15 p.m. start).
