Weekly Dino Digest: Nov. 21-24
By Maggie Hsu, November 23 2024—
It was a winning weekend for the Dinos basketball teams this past weekend and they continue pushing through their season along with hockey, the return of volleyball after a week off and the Canada West Swimming Championships. As always, the Dinos have plenty going on for students to take in. All Dinos’ home games are free events with your UCID. Tickets can be purchased online with your student ID number. Check out the master schedule and grab a couple of friends to cheer on your Dinos!
Volleyball
After a week off, Dinos volleyball is back in action as both the men’s and women’s teams travel to Edmonton.
The women’s team will hope to bounce back from back-to-back losses at the hands of their cross-town rivals, Mount Royal Cougars two weeks ago that dropped them to third from last in the standings. The Dinos have not defeated the fourth-place Pandas since November 2022 and after losing both preseason matchups against the Pandas in September, the Dinos will look to use this weekend as an opportunity to challenge their abilities and try to get back in the win column.
The men’s side will be visiting the first-placed Golden Bears after stealing the weekend from the Cougars two weeks ago. The Golden Bears have been dominant having only dropped four sets over eight games as we approach the half-way point of the season. The Dinos currently sit with a 3-3 record under the guidance of first-year head coach Graham Vigrass. The Dinos have an uphill battle against them this weekend as the Dinos have not taken a regular season win since February of 2022, marking this edition of the Battle of Alberta as a critical match to not only continue their win streak but it will also serve as a potential turning point to shift the tides of the season before heading into the final weekend of the year.
Both teams are slated to play on Friday and Saturday in Edmonton with the women playing at 6 p.m. on Friday and 5 p.m. on Saturday while the men’s games follow on both days at 7:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively.
Hockey
After a successful weekend at home against the second nationally ranked team in the country, UBC Thunderbirds, the Dinos women’s hockey team is on the road in Manitoba visiting the Bisons for two games against the 6-3-1 East Canada West team. The Dinos and Bisons are evenly matched going into this weekend but the DInos have proved to themselves that they are capable of playing at a high calibre which allowed them to steal a win form the Thunderbirds. Carrying this momentum, they may have the upperhand against the Bisons who are coming off a weekend where the were outscored 10-2 by the MRU Cougars.
The men’s team find themselves in a slightly better position than their women’s team counterparts. They return home to Father David Bauer where they will host the 2-8-0 Manitoba Bisons who are struggling in the East Division of the standings. The Dinos faced a setback this past weekend at the hands of the UBC Thunderbirds but are slowly crawling up the standings. This weekend will serve as a great opportunity for the Dinos to start their last homestand of the current year and head into 2025 on a positive note.
Basketball
Dinos basketball are on a mini-vacation from the snow in Vancouver as they battle it out against the UBC Thunderbirds.
The women’s team hope to continue to ride the wave of their dominant wins over the MacEwan Griffins this past weekend where the dinos were absolutely relentless, seeing the Dinos’s fourth-year guard, Amélie Collin, drop 38-points, earning her the honour of first-star of the week. UBC is currently undefeated in their season so they will serve as formidable competitors for the Dinos.
The men’s side continue to ride their winning streak into Vancouver. Their lop-sided performances over the MacEwan Griffins saw Dinos’ basketball players sweep the three-stars of the week with Noah Wharton, Nate Petrone and Martynas Sabaliauskas given the honours for week 13 of the Canada West season. Their home weekend hosting the Griffins also saw the highly anticipated debut of Dylan Kalambay and marked the 300th win for head coach Dan Vanhooren. The Thunderbirds, however, will not go down without a fight as both teams completed last season in the top-five of national ranking, signifying the strength of both programs built on excellence. While they haven’t had much regular season competition in recent years, this weekend will serve as a test for both teams to see how they have improved since their last series at the end of last season.
Swimming
The Dinos swim team are also visiting Vancouver as they prepare to compete in the 2024 Canada West Championships. The meet begins Friday on the UBC campus with medal events starting on Saturday, going into Sunday.
The Dinos head into this year’s championships hungry with the prospects of taking home medals and banners based on previous years’ results. The Dinos have won one team title each over the past three seasons with the men having claimed two banners while the women had the honour of taking the title in 2021. Overall, the Dinos’ historic program has won nine women’s conference titles and 22 on the men’s side — the most in Canada West history.
Last season, the Dinos racked up 39 total medals from the 22 events with 16 athletes participating in the medal haul including Canada West Swimmers of the Year Alexanne Lepage and Stephen Calkins who return to this year’s meet with hopes to repeat the Dinos’ dominance.