WolfPack ready to renew rivalry with SFU in home-and-home weekend series

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Thompson Rivers University opens up a two-game weekend series against Simon Fraser University on Friday night at 8:00 PM on home ice at Memorial Arena.

TRU is then on the road at Burnaby for a 7 pm faceoff against SFU at Bill Copeland Arena on Saturday (Dec 1). 

"SFU is another quality league competitor and they have always been a premier team in the BCIHL," says WolfPack head coach Don Schulz. "They will bring their A-game and we'll have to be ready and play hard in order to be successful."

SFU's line-up features a number of top scorers including 2012 BCIHL Most Valuable Player Ben Van Lare.

"Van Lare has been a premier player in our league for several years and he will certainly garner our attention. Their captain, Christopher Hoe, is also their leading scorer, so we'll definitely have to be aware of when he's on the ice."

TRU has had a couple of weeks to prepare for this important weekend. Last week the WolfPack worked hard and saw improvement thanks to some fast-paced and intense practices. This week the focus was back on special teams to reinforce the importance of the power play and penalty kill.

"This is a huge weekend for us. If we're able to pull off a couple big wins against a successful SFU team, we will be able to finish in second place in the league standings going into the Christmas break," Schulz says.

"Given all the adversity we have had to overcome early on and our rocky start it will be something to be proud of. Once the walking wounded return and we add a couple talented new recruits we will start the next term ready to go."

No stranger to injury, Kevin Lourens is out for another game and will not return to the ice until the new year. Fellow forward Brennan Wright is also suffering from an injury.

Captain Curtis Tonello has a lower body injury and it's doubtful that he will be able to lace up and join his teammates on Friday or Saturday night.

"It's looking like we'll be down to 10 forwards and 5 defensemen again," says Schulz.

Shane Mainprize will start in goal on Friday.

TRU is hoping for a successful weekend and to start out strong at home in order to build momentum heading into Saturday on the road.