The UNBC Timberwolves snapped a four-game losing streak last weekend in Kamloops.
This weekend on home turf, the Timberwolves have a golden opportunity to find that winning feeling again.
Tonight at 7:15, the T-wolves (1-5-0) play the winless (0-3-1) Saskatchewan Huskies, followed by a Sunday morning (11 a.m.) showdown with the Winnipeg Wesmen (0-5-1).
All three teams converging this weekend at North Cariboo Field are trying to rebound from weekend defeats. The T-wolves lost 3-0 to the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack Sunday afternoon in Kamloops, less than a day after UNBC posted a 3-2 victory over TRU.
The Huskies got spanked 5-0 by the Alberta Golden Bears in their most recent game Sunday in Saskatoon, while Winnipeg is coming off a 1-0 loss to the Mount Royal Cougars Saturday in Winnipeg.
"It feels good to win a game for sure, but spirits have been high all the time and guys are in a good space because they know they're playing well," said T-wolves head coach Steve Simonson. "It's definitely nice to get rewarded with a result."
Simonson likes what he's seen from his troops so far this season. Of the five losses, two were against the Trinity Western Spartans (5-1-0) the first-place team in the Pacific Division, and two were at the hands of the second-place UBC Thunderbirds (4-0-2).
"I think the difference on the weekend for us in the first game against TRU was we finished the chances we created and we hadn't really done that before," Simonson said. "We got in behind them fairly well in the first half and scored two goals to give us the lead, which gave us confidence.
"After we took the lead we knew TRU would come after us so we made a conscious decision to defend a bit deeper and try to hit them on the counterattack, which is where we got our third goal from, but we definitely had to weather some opportunities from them because TRU has a very good attacking front four."
Goalie Mitch MacFarlane was stellar in the win over TRU, blocking six of eight shots on goal. Simonson has also been impressed with the play of rookie midfielder Owen Stewart, 17, a Prince George minor soccer graduate who has looked like he belongs in the CIS. Simonson has rewarded him for his efforts by playing him in every minute of the five games so far.
Although Saskatchewan has scored just one goal in six games while allowing 12, that discrepancy offers no real comfort to coach Simonson. He's watched enough of the Huskies' game tapes this season to know the T-wolves are in for a tough battle.
"Their biggest defeat was to Alberta, a top-ranked team in the CIS, but they've been in all the games," said Simonson. "Goals tell you a different story sometimes than really what's going on. They've looked as good as the opponents I've seen them play against, they're just not scoring and when you're not scoring you don't win games."
Third-year UNBC midfielder Josh McAvoy and Ben Gosse, a third-year defender, remain sidelined with injuries and have not played since the preseason. T-wolves Cody Gysbers and Dan Goodey each have two yellow cards, which means they are one yellow card away from one-game suspensions.
The UNBC women (0-2) are also in action this weekend. On Saturday they play the UBC Okanagan Heat (1-1) in Kelowna, then travel to Kamloops for a Sunday afternoon encounter with Thompson Rivers. (0-2).
The T-wolves dropped their season-opening games at home, losing 4-0 Friday to Winnipeg, followed by a 5-0 defeat to Manitoba on Sunday.
UBC Okanagan opened on the road with a 2-1 win Saturday in Lethbridge, then lost 6-2 to the Calgary Dinos. Calgary crushed TRU 10-0 Saturday. The WolfPack went on to lose 2-0 in Lethbridge.
