CALGARY – Playoff fever is in the air at Father David Bauer Arena as the University of Calgary Dinos gear up to take on the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal match-up.

The puck drops at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights. If necessary, Game 3 will go Sunday at 5 p.m.

Looking back to the Thunderbirds' lone appearance in Calgary on Jan. 20-21 when UBC took both games, it seemed improbable for the Dinos to be hosting in the first round of the playoffs. After picking up 11 out of a possible 12 points in their next six games though, Calgary will have a chance to exact some revenge.

It will be the eighth playoff series these clubs have played against each other. Calgary has won six of those including the last time in 2006. That year the Thunderbirds were able to take game one by a 4-3 score. An epic 5-4 double overtime victory by the Dinos in game two set the stage for the deciding game where Calgary won 4-1 at home.

Calgary went 2-4-0 against UBC during the regular season with their January series being their only meeting since the beginning of November. Taylor Stefishen had a dominant year against the Thunderbirds, scoring seven of his 12 goals versus UBC. Max Grassi and Scott Wasden were the top T-Birds against the Dinos, with six points each in the season series.

Stefishen played the biggest role in 2011-12 in the offensive department, but look for some veterans to step up as well during the year's second season. Reid Jorgensen and Brock Nixon combined eight points in last year's postseason run and will be expected to contribute once again. Jorgensen will have extra incentives with this series marking his final games as a Dino at Father David Bauer Arena. Grassi, Wasden and Jordan Inglis are the three-headed dragon for UBC that Calgary will have to find a way to shutdown. Inglis is the only member of the trio with CIS playoff experience.

Whenever Calgary's forwards have struggled, they have always had the perk of having a pair of gifted offensive defencemen. Cory Pritz and Teigan Zahn each had superb years with 16 and 15 points respectively. Pritz was also responsible for two overtime game winning goals. Those two were also supported by Kodie Curran who returned to the Dino blue line in the final 10 games and collected eight points. The Thunderbirds top scoring defenceman is rookie Jason Yee who notched 11 points while playing in all 28 contests.

This series will feature the goaltending match-up of Calgary's Dustin Butler and UBC's Jordan White. The reigning CIS goaltender of the year, Butler is coming off another 20-plus games played season between the pipes for the Dinos. Butler will also have last year's experience to build off of when he played in Calgary's five conference playoff games and also suited up at the University Cup. White has played in 71 games for the Thunderbirds over the past three seasons, but will be making his playoff debut this weekend. His last post-season appearances were in 2009 with the BCHL's Penticton Vees.

The winner of this series will move onto the Canada West semi-final where they will face either the Manitoba Bisons or the Alberta Golden Bears. Calgary has not played Manitoba since 2005, but the Dinos familiar with big games against the Golden Bears after losing to them last season in the Canada West final.

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