Thompson Rivers gears up for big second half with road trip to Victoria

It’s back to work this weekend for the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack hockey club as the ‘Pack, like the rest of the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League, return to play after the Holiday Break.

TRU will spend the weekend in Victoria taking on UVic. The teams play Friday (Jan 8) and Saturday (Jan 9) at Victoria’s Ian Stewart Complex. The WolfPack enter the second half of the season sitting in second place with a record of eight wins and four losses. They have played three less games than first place SFU, who leads them by 11 points.

UVic is standing in fourth spot with four wins, three losses and three ties. They have played two less games than the ‘Pack.

“We are looking forward to getting back onto the ice for the second half of the year,” says TRU head coach Chris Hans. “With a long layoff for first term finals and the Christmas break, it’ll be nice to get back to competition.”

The WolfPack haven’t played since the weekend of November 28, 2009 when they swept Selkirk College handily. Hans feels that all of the BCIHL teams will be in the same boat when it comes to ‘shaking off the holiday rust’.

“Our local players were able to skate one or two times a week,” he explains. “So I don’t expect a lot of problems where we left off.”

Hans has been working on tempo and winning individual battles in practice this week.

“Our systems and specialty team plays won’t change a lot heading into the second half of the season, but we will need to reacquaint ourselves with the work ethic that has played a big role in our success of late.”

The WolfPack have three of the top 15 scorers in the BCIHL. Jassi Sangha sits in seventh spot. He has eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points. That is one point ahead of teammate Joel Leonard, who has six goals and 13 helpers. Jose Reyes has 11 goals and six assists for 17 points. That is good enough for 12th spot.

The top gunner for UVic is Brett Campbell. He has eight goals and nine assists for 17 points and stands 24th overall. UVic does have the top goaltender average wise. Tim Manual is unbeaten in five starts (four wins and a tie). He has an average of 1.67 and a saves percentage of .945.

TRU’s top two keepers are Brock Fraser and Blake Tancock. Fraser stands fourth in the league with five wins in six starts. He has a shutout, a goals against average of 3.58 and a saves percentage of .885. Tancock is seventh in league standings with two wins and two losses in four starts. His average is 4.75 with a saves percentage of .869.

Hans won’t be taking UVic for granted this weekend.

“We can’t take any team lightly in this league,” he explains. “Considering they took three of four points from SFU before the break, they must be strong.”

The WolfPack coach expects the second half of the BCIHL season to be close.

“I expect a tough battle from all teams. Most still have a realistic chance of making the playoffs so each point will be important.”

TRU plays its first home games of 2010 January 23rd and 24th against this same UVic team. Those games will be played at Memorial Arena.

ICE CHIPS: WolfPack captain David Boychuk hopes to have his injured wrist re-examined this week. Boychuk spent part of the holidays in Boston where he watched his brother Johnny play in the Winter Classic against the Philadelphia Flyers. “It was an unreal experience,” David said. “We got to skate on the rink at Fenway Park as part of the friends and family skate. The atmosphere in the stands was something hard to describe.” David forgot his skates and borrowed his brother’s backup ones. Ironically, those skates later got into the game when Johnny broke the blade on the ones he was using.