UBC Thunderbirds men's ice hockey

The UBC Thunderbirds men's ice hockey team is an ice hockey team representing the UBC Thunderbirds athletics program of University of British Columbia. The team is a member of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association conference and compete in U Sports. The Thunderbirds play their home games at the Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.

History As many Canadian college did in the early part of the 20th century, the UBC Thunderbirds began playing in a local senior league. By at last 1916, the Thunderbirds playing members of the Vancouver City Senior League (VCSL) though whether or not the team was officially sanctioned by the school at that time is uncertain. What is known is that UBC was a full member after World War I and won both the league and provincial senior championship in 1921. Normally, this would have given the team the ability to compete for the Allan Cup, the national senior championship, however, the provincial playoffs were held at the same time as the Allan Cup regionals (early March) and UBC's title came too late for them to qualify.

UBC continued to play senior hockey until the late 20s when the VCSL dissolved. They both resurfaced in 1931 for one final season before the league disbanded for good. UBC's ice hockey team played just one official season from 1932 until 1945, joining the short-lived Pacific Coast Intermediate Hockey League (PCIHL) for its inaugural season in 1938–39. It wasn't until after World War II that a concerted effort was made to revive the program. The team tried various ideas; playing as an independent outfit, joining senior leagues, etc... however, the team had yet to play an intercollegiate game. This was primarily due to remote locale of the Thunderbirds. At the time, the nearest fellow college that sponsored varsity ice hockey was Alberta, some 1,000 kilometers away. Despite the distance, the two schools agreed to start an annual competition in 1949 and award the Hamber Trophy to the champion. UBC won the inaugural series, however, Alberta took the next twelve titles. Despite UBC's inability to win a second championship, the Hamber series proved to be the most consistent competition for the team until the early 60s.

In 1961, UBC joined the Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WCIAU) a collection of colleges in Western Canada. At the time, the only other members were Alberta and Saskatchewan but joining the league still required a sizable financial investment in the program. After going winless in their first season of play, the league rebranded as the Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Association (WCIAA) and was one of four leagues to receive invitations to send their champion to the University Cup. Surprisingly, UBC rose to the challenge and won the league's inaugural championship. The Thunderbirds then won their national semi-final to appear in the first University Cup championship game, however, they fell 2–3 to McMaster.

Despite the team's success, the team was forced to leave the WCIAA in 1964 as travel expenses had ballooned. Two years later, UBC rejoined the league and appeared to have addressed the financial issues at least in the short term. The Thunderbirds won their second league championship in 1971 but lost to eventually champion Toronto in the University Cup semi-finals. A year later, to cut down on travel expenses for all schools, the WCIAA was split into two conferences. UBC was one of four teams that were founding members of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association. Over the succeeding 30 years, UBC found it very difficult to make a name for itself in the conference. The Thunderbirds made just 6 playoff appearances from 1974 to 2004 Their lone trip to the national tournament in 1977 came as a result of being the league runner-up at the time Canada West possessed a rotating wild-card bid. Even after the team was able to get in on the playoff chase, UBC didn't make a single appearance in the finals until 2020. By then, the University Cup field had expanded to allow both league finalists entry and the program was able to end its 43-year drought. Unfortunately, the team's timing could not have been worse and the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the series before UBC had played a single game.2020 U SPORTS Men's & Women's Hockey Championships cancelled due to COVID-19 . U Sports.

After the entire 2020–21 season was cancelled, UBC got a second chance to make its tournament return and made it appear that the program had turned a corner. The following season the team won 20 conference games for the first time in its history but were knocked out in the league semi-finals. 2023–24 proved to be even better for the Thunderbirds as the team won its first regular season championship since 1963 and first ever Canada West title.

Season-by-season results Senior and collegiate play Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points Extra-League ChampionExtra-League Semi-finalistConference regular season championsConference Division ChampionsConference Playoff Champions SeasonConferenceRegular SeasonConference Tournament ResultsNational Tournament Results Conference OverallGPWLTPts*FinishGPWLT%Senior Hockey1916–17VCSL??????????? 1917–18???????????? 1918–19VCSL642082nd????? 1919–20VCSL642082nd????? Lost Championship, 2–3 (Vancouver Nationals) 1920–21VCSL624043rd????? Won Semi-final, 1–0 (Vancouver Monarchs)Won Championship series, 6–5 (Vancouver Towers) Won Provincial Championship series, 7–6 (Victoria Senators)1921–22VCSL633063rd????? Lost Semi-final, ? 1922–23VCSL611464th????? Lost Championship, ?1923–24VCSL422062nd????? Lost Semi-final, ?1924–25VCSL413023rd????? Lost Semi-final, ? 1925–26VCSL404003rd????? 1926–27VCSL311133rd????? Lost Semi-final, ? 1927–28VCSL413022nd????? Program suspended1931–32VCSL623153rd????? Program suspended1938–39PCIHL936063rd????? Program suspended1945–46???????????? Lost Provincial Semi-final series 1–2 (New Westminster)1946–47???????????? 1947–48PCSBHL14590104th????? Lost Semi-final series, 1–2 (Nanaimo Clippers) 1948–49PCSBHL16961192nd????? Won Semi-final series, 9–8 (Vancouver Indians)Lost Championship series, 2–4 (Nanaimo Clippers) 1949–50Independent??????????? 1950–51Independent??????????? Won Pacific Coast Championship series, 1–2 (Nanaimo Native Sons)Lost Provincial Semi-final, forfeit (ruled ineligible)1951–52Independent??????????? 1952–53Independent??????????? 1953–54Independent??????????? 1954–55Independent??????????? 1955–56Independent??????????? 1956–57VIMHL30300T–3rd????? 1957–58Independent??????????? 1958–59Independent??????????? 1959–60Independent??????????? 1960–61Independent??????????? 1961–62WCIAU808003rd????? Totals GP W L T %ChampionshipsRegular Season ? ? ? ? ? Conference Post-season ? ? ? ? ? 1 VCSL ChampionshipRegular Season and Postseason Record ? ? ? ? ? 1 British Columbia Senior Championship

Collegiate only Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points U Sports Champion U Sports Semi-finalistConference regular season championsConference Division ChampionsConference Playoff Champions SeasonConferenceRegular SeasonConference Tournament ResultsNational Tournament Results Conference OverallGPWLTOTLSOLPts*FinishGPWLT%1962–63WCIAA10811––17 1st12921 Won Semi-final, 6–2 (Sherbrooke)Lost Championship, 2–3 (McMaster)1963–64WCIAA12660––12T–2nd12660 1964–65Independent????????????? 1965–66Independent????????????? 1966–67WCIAA15690––124th15690 1967–68WCIAA16790––144th16790 1968–69WCIAA2010100––20T–4th2010100 1969–70WCIAA14860––222nd16880 Lost Semi-final series, 0–2 (Calgary) 1970–71WCIAA201550––302nd272070 Won Semi-final series, 2–1 (Calgary)Won Championship series, 2–0 (Manitoba) Lost Semi-final, 2–3 (Toronto)Won Consolation Semi-final, 6–4 (Loyola)Lost Consolation Final, 4–7 (Laurentian)1971–72WCIAA201460––283rd201460 1972–73Canada West241680––32T–2nd241680 1973–74Canada West18990––183rd18990 1974–75Canada West2412111––252nd2713131 Lost Championship series, 1–2 (Alberta) 1975–76Canada West2412120––243rd2412120 1976–77Canada West2414100––282nd2916130 Lost Championship series, 1–2 (Alberta) Lost Semi-final series, 10–11 (Toronto)1977–78Canada West2414100––282nd2715120 Lost Championship series, 1–2 (Alberta) 1978–79Canada West247170––143rd247170 1979–80Canada West2912170––244th2912170 1980–81Canada West245190––104th245190 1981–82Canada West246180––124th246180 1982–83Canada West249150––184th249150 1983–84Canada West243210––64th243210 1984–85Canada West2412120––243rd2412120 1985–86Canada West2812160––246th2812160 1986–87Canada West289172––205th289172 1987–88Canada West2810162––225th2810162 1988–89Canada West2813141––275th2813141 1989–90Canada West2816111––333rd3016131 Lost Semi-final series, 0–2 (Alberta) 1990–91Canada West288155––216th288155 1991–92Canada West2811143––257th2811143 1992–93Canada West287192––167th287192 1993–94Canada West287174––186th287174 1994–95Canada West2810135––256th2810135 1995–96Canada West289172––207th289172 1996–97Canada West267163––176th267163 1997–98Canada West289154––226th3110174 Lost Division Semi-final series, 1–2 (Calgary) 1998–99Canada West287183––177th287183 1999–00Canada West285194––147th285194 2000–01Canada West286193––157th286193 2001–02Canada West285194––147th285194 2002–03Canada West285230––107th285230 2003–04Canada West287192––166th318212 Lost Division Semi-final series, 1–2 (Calgary) 2004–05Canada West285176––166th305196 Lost Division Semi-final series, 0–2 (Calgary) 2005–06Canada West2812151––255th3113171 Lost Division Semi-final series, 1–2 (Calgary) 2006–07Canada West281413–1–29T–4th3316170 Won Division Semi-final series, 2–1 (Lethbridge)Lost Division Final series, 0–2 (Alberta) 2007–08Canada West281216–0–245th3012180 Won Quarter-final series, 0–2 (Manitoba) 2008–09Canada West281114–12255th3313182 Won Division Semi-final series, 2–1 (Lethbridge)Lost Division Final series, 0–2 (Saskatchewan) 2009–10Canada West28819–01177th288191 2010–11Canada West281112–41276th2811161 2011–12Canada West281212–13285th3113153 Lost Semi-final series, 1–2 (Calgary) 2012–13Canada West281411–12315th3115142 Lost Semi-final series, 1–2 (Calgary) 2013–14Canada West281115–2024T–6th3313200 Won Quarter-final series, 2–1 (Saskatchewan)Lost Semi-final series, 0–2 (Alberta) 2014–15Canada West281310–50314th3315180 Won Quarter-final series, 2–1 (Manitoba)Lost Semi-final series, 0–2 (Alberta) 2015–16Canada West281113–40266th3011190 Lost Quarter-final series, 0–2 (Mount Royal) 2016–17Canada West281213–21276th3012171 Lost Quarter-final series, 0–2 (Calgary) 2017–18Canada West281610–20344th3117140 Lost Quarter-final series, 1–2 (Calgary) 2018–19Canada West281412–20304th3014160 Lost Quarter-final series, 0–2 (Mount Royal) 2019–20Canada West28914–41235th3613221 Won Quarter-final series, 2–1 (Mount Royal)Won Semi-final series, 2–1 (Alberta)Lost Championship series, 0–2 (Saskatchewan) No contest Quarter-final, cancelled (New Brunswick)2020–21 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic2021–22Canada West20145–10292nd251690 Won Semi-final series, 2–0 (Mount Royal)Lost Championship series, 0–2 (Alberta) Lost Quarter-final, 1–2 (OT) (Quebec–Trois-Rivières)2022–23Canada West28206–11423rd332391 Won Quarter-final series, 2–0 (Regina)Lost Semi-final series, 1–2 (Alberta)2023–24Canada West28224–1146 1st352681 Won Semi-final series, 2–1 (Alberta)Won Championship series, 2–1 (Calgary) Lost Quarter-final, 2–3 (McGill)Totals GP W L T/SOL %ChampionshipsRegular Season 1491 609 810 72 1 WCIAA Championship, 1 Canada West ChampionshipConference Post-season 89 34 55 0 1 WCIAA Championship, 1 Canada West ChampionshipU Sports Postseason 9 3 6 0 6 National tournament appearancesRegular Season and Postseason Record 1589 646 871 72 Totals include games since 1962–63 except for 1964–65 and 1965–66. Note: Games not counted towards University Cup appearances are not included.

See also UBC Thunderbirds women's ice hockey

References

External links