Dinos Women's Basketball (16-4, 3-0)
Saturday, Feb. 28 | Calgary at UBC | War Memorial Gym | 3:00 PM MT | Watch | Live Stats
For the second time in four years, the University of Calgary Dinos women's basketball team will play for the Canada West Championship as they head to Vancouver Saturday for a 3 p.m. MT championship showdown with UBC.
The Dinos finished the regular season with a 16-4 conference record, giving them the No. 6 seed in this year's Canada West tournament. Calgary quickly dispatched both No. 11 Manitoba, 91-67, and No. 3 Trinity Western, 76-47, to advance to the semifinals. This past Saturday, Calgary made major news across the Canadian basketball world as they not only knocked off top-ranked Saskatchewan, they snapped the Huskies' impressive win streak at 51 games in a row. Ironically, it was the Dinos that had given the U of S its last pair of losses at the start of the 2024-25 season before starting its impressive run.
While the Dinos offence has found its rhythm over the last few weeks, the calling card of both this year's squad and first-year head coach Sarah Besselink has been defence. Calgary held Saskatchewan to just 58 points in that CW semifinal win - an incredible 25 points lower than the Huskies had been averaging all season. In fact, over its three postseason games, Calgary is allowing just over 57 points per game.
UBC also finished the regular season at 16-4 and were slotting as the No. 1 seed in this year's tournament by being the top seed coming out of the Pacific Division. After opening the postseason with a bye, the Thunderbirds erased an 11-point halftime deficit for a 75-69 win over eighth-seeded Alberta. They nearly mimiced that score one week later in a 74-68 win over No. 4 Regina in the semifinals and will now play their third-straight playoff game at home as they host Saturday's conference final.
The T-Birds are led by first-year head coach and former long-time Regina head coach Dave Taylor. Fifth-year players Olivia Weekes and Cassie joli-Coeur were both named Canada West All-Stars a week ago for UBC, with Weekes earning first team honours.
Calgary and UBC did not play this regular season and last squared off early in the 2024-25 season in Vancouver. The Thunderbirds won that opener before the Dinos bounced back with a win in the finale, though both teams have featured a good deal of turnover since those two contests.
The Dinos will be looking for their first conference banner since 2001 and ninth overall.
Additionally, with their win in last weekend's conference semifinals, the Dinos have officially punched their ticket to the U SPORTS Final 8, hosted by this year in Quebec. It marks the third time in the last four years and fifth time in the last eight seasons the Dinos will have advanced to the national tournament and the 19th overall appearance.
Dinos Men's Hockey (19-8-1, 2-0)
Friday, Feb. 27 | Calgary at Mount Royal | Flames Community Arenas | 7:00 PM | Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 28 | Calgary at Mount Royal | Flames Community Arenas | 7:00 PM | Watch | Live Stats
*Sunday, March 1 | Calgary at Mount Royal | Flames Community Arenas | 7:00 PM | Watch | Live Stats
*If necessary
The Dinos men's hockey team finished off a two-game sweep in their postseason opener and now advance to take on city rival Mount Royal in a best-of-three series inside the Flames Community Arenas, starting Friday. All three games are slated for 7 p.m. start times.
Calgary may not have played its best hockey, but it still comfortably moved past MacEwan in last week's quarterfinals in Edmonton, outscoring the Griffins 10-5 in the two-game sweep. Seven different Dinos found the back of the net and 14 total players tallied at least one point in the convincing wins.
Now comes yet another series with crosstown rival Mount Royal. Not much separated the two powers all season long, as MRU narrowly claimed the top spot in the top-heavy division with a 20-6-2 mark for 42 points, while Calgary finished in third at 19-8-1 with 39 points.
The Dinos and Cougars played six times already this regular season, with MRU claiming a 4-2 edge in the series. All but one of those matchups were one-goal games, with two going all the way to a shootout.
This marks the third Crowchild Classic postseason edition in men's hockey, and the first with the Cougars as the home team. The Dinos won two-of-three back to punch their ticket to nationals in the 2015 CW semifinals. Calgary also earned a two-game sweep in the conference semifinals two seasons ago.
Dinos Men's Volleyball (8-12, 2-1)
Thursday, Feb. 26 | Calgary at UBC | War Memorial Gym | 8:30 PM MT | Watch | Live Stats
Friday, Feb. 27 | Calgary at UBC | War Memorial Gym | 8:30 PM MT | Watch | Live Stats
*Saturday, Feb. 28 | Calgary at UBC | War Memorial Gym | 8:30 PM MT | Watch | Live Stats
*If necessary
After taking down their city rivals for the second time in four years, the Dinos men's volleyball team joins the women's hoops team as they head to Vancouver for a best-of-three series against UBC. Thursday and Friday's game's are set for 8:30 p.m. MT inside the War Memorial Gym, with Saturday's rematch if needed also set for 8:30 p.m. MT.
The Dinos turned some heads with their 2-1 series win over Mount Royal in this past week's Canada West play-in. Calgary had gone 0-10 in conference road games in the regular season and dropped the playoff opener at MRU before rallying for two five-set thrillers at Kenyon Court. It was a massive weekend for fifth-year outside hitter Erik Godwin. After battling an injury down the stretch of the regular season, Godwin was not ready for his time as a Dino to come to an end as he led the way with 45 kills in the three wins, including a season-high 21 in Game 3.
UBC starts its playoff run this weekend on its home court. The Thunderbirds were the No. 1 ranked team in the nation all but one week this season and finished the conference slate with a 19-1 record. This T-Birds squad is looking to take things to the next level. Two seasons ago, they claimed both Canada West and U SPORTS bronze before falling just short in the conference final four a season ago that ended their run.
This two teams went head-to-head just a few weeks ago in Calgary, when UBC claimed the opener 3-1 before a straight-sets win in the rematch. The T-Birds have now won four in a row in the series, with the Dinos last victory dating back to Feb. 4, 2023.
Dinos Wrestling
Friday, Feb. 27 | U SPORTS Championships | CJ Saunders Fieldhouse | 7:00 AM MT | Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 28 | U SPORTS Championships | CJ Saunders Fieldhouse | 7:00 AM MT | Watch | Live Stats
The Dinos wrestling teams are off to Thunder Bay as Lakehead University is set to host this year's national championships. This year's schedule sees the action start Friday morning at 7 a.m. MT, with Day 1 wrapping up in the early afternoon. Saturday's bouts get underway at 7 a.m. MT, with gold-medal matches scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. MT, followed by the annual awards banquet.
Calgary just claimed its third consecutive Canada West banner on the women's side and will look to carry that momentum into this year's national tournament. The Dinos won six of the 10 weight classes on the women's side and added three more silver medals in yet another show of domination at conference. On the men's side, Calgary finished runner-up in a tight race. Mark Schwichtenberg to go with seven silver medals.
A year ago, the Dinos finished three points shy of the team title despite winning four national gold medals. Calgary has won five U SPORTS wrestling championships in program history - all on the women's side. The most recent came back in 2009 when they hosted that year's meet.
-UC-
