Weekly Dino Digest: Feb. 7-9

By Maggie Hsu, February 7 2025—

The fall/winter U SPORTS seasons are coming to an end with three seniors’ nights on the schedule this weekend to celebrate the outgoing Dinos. As always, all Dinos home games are free with your UCID. Be sure to avoid the lines at the ticket office and purchase your tickets online with your student ID number as the discount code. Check out the master schedule, head down to The Den for a quick pregame and head over to cheer on your Dinos!

Track and Field

The Dinos track and field teams are in Edmonton for the Pandas Classic this weekend for their final meet before preparing for Canada West and U SPORTS championships. The nationally-ranked fourth-place women’s team have already qualified for multiple events with their most recent being:

• Georgia Oland who crossed the finish line with her personal best of 7.45 seconds in the 60-meter sprint at the Dinos Classic on Feb. 2;
• Sienna MacDonald also automatically qualified for the U SPORTS Championships during the Golden Bear Open in two events: women’s pentathlon with 4181-points and women’s high jump with a staggering jump of 1.71-meters.

Basketball

Both basketball squads will cap off their home schedules with their respective “Seniors’ Nights” on Saturday. The women are set to take the Jack Simpson gym first on Friday at 6 p.m before returning to celebrate their seniors on Saturday at 4 p.m. After a weekend sweep of the Brandon Bobcats while most of the university had their eyes on the Crowchild Classic, they have been undefeated since the start of the calendar year and will hope to defend their flawless home court advantage this weekend against the Lethbridge Pronghorns. The Dinos currently sit at third-place in the Canada West Prairie Division with a 13-3 record. While the Pronghorns visit Calgary with a 8-8 record, their offensive core is not one to overlook with three players averaging double-digit scoring this season.

On the men’s side, a tough Saturday night agains the Brandon Bobcats put the Dinos’ defense to the test as they barely managed to pull off the weekend sweep. While they currently sit at the top of their division with an identical 13-3 record to their counterparts, the new year has not been as kind to the Dinos’ men’s team as two of their losses have come over the past month. With the playoffs clearly within site, they cannot take their weekend series against the Pronghorns for granted. The 10-6 visitors currently sit at fourth-place and are nursing a hot start to 2025, having won four-straight including a sweep of the previously undefeated Victoria Vikes last weekend. A continued hot streak can drastically change the Prairie Division rankings, including potentially forcing the Dinos out of their number one spot.

Friday’s tip off for the men’s game is scheduled for 8 p.m. They will return for their final home game on Saturday at 8 p.m. for Seniors’ Night

Hockey

The home schedule for the women’s hockey team comes to an end with a weekend home-and-home series against the MacEwan Griffins. The men, however, have one more weekend home series on the calendar.

The men start off at home in Father David Bauer arena after a back-and-forth weekend against their Crowchild Classic rivals. With a 12-8-2 record and four games left to play, they have fully shifted into playoff mode as the next two weekends with their third-place finish secured barring a catastrophic end to the season by the UBC Thunderbirds. This weekend, they face the MacEwan Griffins. While the Dinos have never lost to MacEwan, having gone a perfect 11-0 since the Edmonton team joined Canada West, the Grififns are hungry to clinch their spot in the playyoffs on their side of the bracket. Puck drop at Father David Bauer is scheduled for 7 p.m. before they make an overnight trip to Edmonton.

The women’s squad start Friday night in Edmonton before returning to Father David Bauer for Seniors’ Night on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Dinos were eliminated from playoff contention following their loss against MRU last Saturday and a point acquired by Trinity Western in a shootout loss against the Alberta Pandas. There is still much to celebrate for the Dinos on Saturday. With a young squad capable of stealing games, the 2025-26 rendition of the Dinos’ women’s hockey team is sure to be a contender for the playoff race next year.