Caleb Peterson

The T-Birds are coming up to a long hiatus before the playoffs, facing the risk of getting rusty over the break. On Saturday, MacEwan ensured that wouldn't happen, pushing the 'Birds to their limit in UBC's final regular season home game.

Trinity Western has never beaten UBC in men's hockey. They didn't even come close on Friday night, as a frenzied Winter Classic crowd pushed the 'Birds to their most dominant performance in the last three years.

In one of their most complete performances of the season, on Friday night, the Thunderbirds dominated the second-ranked Dinos in a game that, from the opening puck drop, never felt that close. The 4–0 final score, if anything, was kind to Calgary.

This holiday season, I was hoping for more Muppet-induced joy. But with Letters to Santa, that spark just wasn’t present the way it had been in the past.

The Thunderbirds erupted for a five-goal first period to take home an 8–4 win against the Golden Bears at home in Father David Bauer Arena, their fourth-straight win against Alberta this year.

In a physical, chippy contest, MacEwan beat the T-Birds for the second time this year, scoring 43 seconds into overtime to end an impressive winning streak, taking the game 5–4 and leaving UBC to wonder why a small school from Edmonton with a losing record has given them so much trouble this year.

UBC men's soccer choked back their loss against Montreal, and beat the living daylights out of a clearly inferior opponent. In a game that UBC controlled from the kickoff, the ‘Birds humiliated the Tigers — barely letting them even touch the ball in a 3–0 win that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicates.

In national tournaments, the matchups are often unusual, with teams playing opponents from other provinces they may have only played a few times in their team’s entire history. The regional rivalries that dominate in the regular season — and all the bitterness and familiarity that defines them — are gone. But you wouldn’t have thought that watching UBC and Montreal go at it on Thursday. The Thunderbirds and Carabins played an ugly, physical, bitter match — a rock fight that came down to the final moments.

Coming across the country from Ontario, the Gryphons didn’t seem to have any response for Victoria’s rainy day dominance. Guelph got down early, and they stayed down. The Gryphons were held without a single point against the Vikes, losing 42–0, the only team in the tournament to not score in a game.

For the hundreds of T-Birds fans in attendance, their hearts were in their throats. While UBC women’s rugby had played an incredible game thus far against the second-seeded Queens University Gaels, holding on to a slim 20–14 lead in the final minutes of the game — their backs were against the wall. With the Gaels on the goal line, UBC made an improbable last-second stop to go to the finals.

With an early 5–0 lead, the Acadia Axewomen might have allowed themselves to dream of one of the biggest upsets in this tournament’s history. For three minutes, at least. After facing that initial setback, the Queens Gaels stomped the Axewomen, outscoring them 57–0 in the second half.

For the vast majority of the game, the matchup between the St. Francis Xavier University (STFX) X-Women and the University of Guelph Gryphons went as you might expect for a bout between two similarly-ranked teams. Yet, what blew this game wide open was a spectacular stretch in the first half for Guelph, taking advantage of a yellow card called on STFX, and, including the penalty try that was conceded as a result of the card, scoring 19 points in the 10 minutes that the X-Women were short-handed.

Going into the second half in the first game of the U Sports Women’s Rugby championship, barely even an hour into the tournament, it seemed like there could be a major upset brewing. The No. 1 seed — the University of Victoria Vikes — were within striking distance, up only six. After the break, however, Victoria was a different team, going on an offensive tear, a 27–0 run in the second half.

After UBC Men’s soccer and the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) Cascades had played through two halves and nearly two periods of extra time without breaking a scoreless tie, penalties seemed inevitable. Yet, almost exactly five minutes after stoppage time had been announced, the impossible happened.

On Thursday evening, the T-Birds began their season with the first Canada West game of the year against the eighth-ranked University of Manitoba Bisons at Thunderbird Stadium, taking home a key early victory in a low-scoring affair, 21–9.