CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos womens hockey team has a busy week ahead of them as they embark on a two-game road trip to face the UBC Thunderbirds on the weekend before coming home to host the Lethbridge Pronghorns for a Tuesday afternoon make-up game.

The game against Lethbridge is being played at such an odd time due to the originally scheduled game from January 9th being canceled due to extreme winter weather that made highway travel dangerous in southern Alberta. Prior to that turn of events, the Dinos took down the Pronghorns 4-1 in the first game of the home-and-home series.

The weekend tilt between the Dinos and T-Birds brings together two teams on completely different ends of the spectrum. The Dinos are currently riding a four game winning streak including wins against Manitoba, Lethbridge and a pair of victories over Regina. UBC, meanwhile, enters this weekend on a four game losing streak with their last win coming on November 13th when they beat Saskatchewan 3-1.

The streaks are indicative of the kind of seasons these teams have had with UBC posting a 4-9-1 record while the Dinos have a 10-4-0 record so far. The Dinos' record is good enough to land them in the third spot in Canada West, three points behind conference-leading Alberta with two games in hand. UBC's record places them at the bottom of the conference with an incredible run of luck and success needed for them to have a shot at a playoff berth.

The last time these teams met the series was split with T-Bird goalie Melinda Choy stopping 39 of 40 shots in the opener to earn UBC a 3-2 win before the Dinos bounced back in a strong way, stunning the visitors 6-0 in the second game of the series.

Calgary will once again be relying on their solid goaltending with has been led by Amanda Tapp. Tapp currently leads Canada West in shutouts with four perfect games this season. On top of that she has posted a 1.64GAA and a save percentage of 0.933.

The T-Birds have been relying heavily on the play of goaltender Melinda Choy to get them through this season. Choy has played all 14 games for UBC and has seen a lot of rubber flung her way on route to a 3.76 GAA and a .870 save percentage.

In addition to the always dominant play of Hayley Wickenheiser, the Dinos have been seeing lots of production from assistant captain Melissa Zubick. Zubick is the Dino with the third highest point total after notching two assists against Lethbridge to bring her total to eleven assists and a goal this season.

The series will face off on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 14-15, at Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver. Both games face off at 8 p.m. MT.

Following the road trip, the Dinos will return home to host the Lethbridge Pronghorns on Tuesday, Jan. 18th, with a 4:15 p.m. puck-drop at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.

Next up after this whirlwind weekend, the Dinos will get ready for a home-and-home series against the Alberta Pandas, a perennial Canada West powerhouse.

-UC-