Garden Bay native Kyle Bruce and the UBC Thunderbirds are trying to do something this weekend that hasn't been done since 1970 - win a playoff series.
The Thunderbirds, who finished off the regular season last weekend, are in Calgary for the best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal playoff series against the Dinos.
UBC finished the season splitting a pair at home against the Lethbridge Pronghorns to finish the year with a record of 12-15-1. It's the best regular season record in 16 years for the T-Birds.
Bruce finished the regular season with five goals and 11 points, suiting up for the T-Birds in only 16 games.
In October, Bruce broke his jaw and suffered a concussion during a pre-season tournament in St. Catharines, Ont. But Bruce overcame the injury and was back in the line-up in January.
"Kyle missed two months with the injury, but since he came back he's brought a tremendous amount of energy to our line-up," said head coach Milan Dragicevic.
"Our record with Kyle in the line-up is 8-5. That's a drastic turnaround, considering we won 12 games this season. Kyle is a key player for us. He plays on a highly offensive line and gets lots of power play time. His goals are down, but that's not from lack of effort. He's getting lots of chances. Hopefully he'll find his scoring touch when we need it the most this weekend."
Dragicevic said the team is excited heading into the playoffs.
"This is the first time all year we're healthy so that's a positive sign," he said.
"We've had some success against Calgary and our guys are confident. Our goal is to go in there and expect to win, not just compete. We need to move this program forward, and winning a playoff series is a big step."
Dragicevic said two keys to success will be stopping Calgary's top offensive line and generating offence on the power play.
"We need to score some goals with the man advantage. Kyle is a big part of the power play. We need him to step up," he said. "If we can do that and stop their big line, we can have some success."
