The UBC Thunderbirds have rarely gained any altitude in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association.
For Prince George's Dayle Poulin and the rest of the UBC women's hockey team, past failures have made the heights of this season absolutely dizzying.
The Thunderbirds will play the final games of their 2012-13 regular schedule Friday and Saturday in Edmonton against the University of Alberta Pandas. The T-birds enter the doubleheader with a best-ever record of 15-7-4 and, with two victories, will have a chance at a first-round bye in the playoffs.
In the past dozen seasons, the Thunderbirds have only qualified for the playoffs twice -- in 2007 and 2009. Last season, they finished seventh out of the seven Canada West teams with a woeful record of 1-21-2.
The transformation this season has been nothing short of stunning. Poulin, a 22-year-old forward who is one of five graduating members of the T-birds, gives a ton of credit to new head coach Graham Thomas.
"He's a great coach and he's extremely passionate," said Poulin, a kinesiology student at UBC. "Everything we do in practice is beneficial. The girls look forward to coming to the rink and we all respect him, respect what he has to say. He has completely turned the program around. It's absolutely crazy. Last year, again, we had one win and this year we have 15 girls back from last season so that's a big chunk of the team. The only thing that's changed is we have a new coach and he's done incredible things."
Some of UBC's first-year players -- people like forwards Stephanie Schaupmeyer and Nicole Saxvik and goaltender Danielle Dube -- have also been major contributors to the team's success. Schaupmeyer and Saxvik have combined for six goals and 22 points, while Dube has gone 10-5 between the pipes and has a goals-against average of 1.67 and a sparkling save percentage of .943.
Currently, the Thunderbirds are on a five-game winning streak.
Poulin never could have imagined that things would go so well this season.
"One win last season, and you think, 'OK, we're getting a new coach and some new players,' but never would I have expected us to potentially be getting a first-round [playoff bye]," she said. "We could get a first-round bye and then we'd have to win two games and we'd be guaranteed to go to nationals because the two top teams in Canada West get to attend nationals. It's definitely in our reach."
The University of Calgary Dinos, the defending Canada West champions, currently sit first with a 21-4-1 record. The University of Regina Cougars (16-7-3) and the Thunderbirds are second and third respectively, with the Pandas (16-9-1) holding down fourth place. Manitoba (10-11-5) and Saskatchewan (10-12-4) have also clinched playoff spots.
If the T-birds win both games against the Pandas this weekend and Manitoba takes one of two against favoured Regina, UBC would finish in second place and would grab the bye. Regardless of what happens, the T-birds are guaranteed to host a playoff series for the first time in their history.
Chances are, Poulin won't be lighting up the scoreboard against the Pandas. She generally skates on the third or fourth line and also sees time in penalty-killing situations. Quite simply, she happily accepts whatever responsibilities she is given.
Thomas himself has nothing but praise for Poulin and the contributions she makes to the club.
"She has the skill, she's got good size and she understands the game well so we've been pushing her all year to kind of realize her offensive potential and it's starting to come through," said Thomas, who was previously an associate coach of the Syracuse University women's hockey team. "But she's kind of a role player who can play in a lot of situations. She's just a great teammate and a great person and I think that's a big thing and a big reason why we're doing as well as we're doing -- the players all get along and it stems from the leadership in our older players. She's a big part of that."
Poulin, originally recruited by the Thunderbirds during her final season of midget hockey with the Prince George Bursey Buryn Cougars, does have one goal and one assist this season. Her goal came during a 4-1 win against the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns on Jan. 12.
The Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championship tournament is March 7-10 in Toronto.
