CALGARY – With two weeks to go in the regular season, the Dinos women's hockey team is in a desperate struggle for a playoff spot as they host the UBC Thunderbirds at the Olympic Oval this weekend.

The Dinos (5-14-1) currently sit in seventh spot in Canada West with 11 points while UBC (7-14-1) occupies the fifth place with 15 points. Both teams are chasing fourth place University of Regina (5-9-6), which holds the final playoff spot in Canada West with 16 points.

The last time these two teams met was at the opening of the season in Calgary's CIS debut, and the teams spit a series with a 3-1 Dinos win and a 4-1 UBC victory.

Since that opening weekend the Dinos embarked on a 13-game losing streak but have turned things around of late, taking nine out of a possible 12 points in their last six games.

The T-Birds have had mixed success this season with multiple wins over Regina and Saskatchewan marking a high point and a current five-game losing streak marking a low. Their most recent series saw them lose two games to the Saskatchewan Huskies in 3-2 and 7-1 decisions.

UBC will be banking on some solid goaltending in the form of Melinda Choy this weekend. Choy enters the weekend as the second-most played goalie in Canada West with 1230 minutes spread over 22 games. She enters this game with a 2.73 GAA and .898 save percentage.

In the Dinos' lone win of the first half of the season, the opener against the T-Birds, they found offensive success from forwards Tanya Morgan, Elana Lovell, and Beccy Niehaus. Each of those players has continued to find success throughout the year posting six, 11, and eight points respectively.
Lovell and Neihaus lead the team in goals at six and five markers on the season.

The action faces off Friday and Saturday nights at the Olympic Oval, with puck drop at 7:30. Calgary wraps up the season with a home-and-home series against Lethbridge next week, with the home game Saturday, Feb. 20 at Father David Bauer Arena, beginning at 3 p.m.

-UC-