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Sports

Villains of the Valley host Beasts of BC

Cam Charron - Sports Editor

Consider this your mid-term exam, WolfPack: the 15-2-2 Simon Fraser University Clansmen roll into Memorial Arena Saturday and Sunday.

Sure, Thompson Rivers may be 8-0 on home ice this season, but the real test is the one that will show up this weekend. Yes, the juggernauts of the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League, who hardly need an introduction, are the main event of another great sports weekend here at TRU.

Back in October, the WolfPack were nearly the first team to beat the Clansmen this season, falling short 5-6. In November, a chippy affair with lots of roughing and scrums overshadowed the game on the ice and TRU fell 3-9.

It’s January now, and the WolfPack, coming off consecutive wins over defending champion University of Victoria, now get a chance to show SFU what they can do on home ice. “They’re solid offensively, they don’t take shifts off,” WolfPack head coach Chris Hans said at a Friday practice, referring to the top players the Clansmen have to offer. #7 Jackson Friesen, with 33 points, is second in total league scoring. #9 Jaime Laprise, is first in the league in goals with 19.

“They’re the type of players that you cannot take your eyes off of for a moment,” Hans said. “Granted, they’re good, but we have some players just as good on our team.”

Countering for the WolfPack will be the red-hot #9 Jassi Sangha and #10 Jose Reyes. Reyes had a 5-point night last Saturday against U-Vic and leads the team with 13 goals on the season. Sangha has 13 points in his last six games, leading the team with 25 points.

Still, it’s the defense that has to worry. Laprise and Friesen are both 5’11” 185-pound specimens, meaning they’ll be tough for the WolfPack defense to knock off the puck. That’s the specialty of David Boychuk, Cody Lockwood and Korey Gannon, the top three WolfPack defensemen, all over 6’2” 215-pounds.

“We still just have to play them physical and wear them down,” said Boychuk, who also doubles as a player coach and team captain. “Knocking into those stocky guys takes a little bit to get going again.”

One aspect where the Clansmen have an advantage is specialty teams. With a deadly powerplay, and with the WolfPack being liable to take bad penalties, it could pose a difference in the weekend series.

“Unfortunately we’re quite experienced with our penalty kill,” Hans said. “If we take penalties out of laziness or frustration, we’re going to be in trouble again. If we’re taking penalties out of aggression and because we’re trying to outwork the other team, those are a lot easier to kill.”

Boychuk, no stranger to the box, leads the team with 68 penalty minutes. “It’s just working hard to get into that good skating shape,” he says. “Working hard and we’re getting less frustrated, getting less frustrated we’re taking fewer penalties.”

Saturday’s game is at 8:45 at Memorial Arena. Sunday’s tilt is at noon.