Mason Bourcier is healthy. Kevin Hanson is happy.
The latter is tied directly to the former, what with how crucial veteran bench boss Hanson believes second-year point guard Bourcier is to the UBC Thunderbirds.
"If he plays well, we generally play well," explained Hanson, who's in the midst of preparing for a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final against the Fraser Valley Cascades, which gets going Thursday (7 p.m.) at War Memorial. "He's our glue guy.
UBC (17-3) is the No. 6 ranked team in U Sports and it's the third seed in the Canada West playoffs. The T-Birds had a bye last week, getting some time off while the sixth-seeded Cascades (13-7) were rallying from a 16-point, second-quarter deficit to defeat the 11th-seeded UNBC Timberwolves (9-11) by a 67-59 count in a first-round playoff match-up.
The T-Birds dropped their final two regular season games two weeks ago, falling 85-75 and then 87-79 to the host Alberta Golden Bears in a pair of weekend encounters in Edmonton. Due to a foot injury, Bourcier played a season-low 18 minutes and scored a season-low two points in the first game of the set, and then played 28 minutes the following evening and had nine points.
Bourcier quarterbacks an offence that features the fourth- and sixth-highest scorers in Canada West in fourth-year guards Jadon Cohee (19.3 points per game) and Manroop Clair (18.9). It also features the country's leader in shooting percentage in second-year forward Grant Shephard (66.7 per cent, as part of his 16.7 points per game), another former Kelowna standout.
Bourcier's defence on the perimeter may be his greatest asset against the Cascades, though. Fraser Valley attempted 31 more three-pointers than the next busiest team from outside the arc in the conference. It connected on 30.5 per cent (204-of-669), which was the fourth-best percentage in Canada West from three-point range.
Against UNBC, Cascades third-year forward Sukman Sandhu was 4-for-8 from the three on his way to a game-high 18 points.
"They're coming in confident. They've got some athletic guys, they've got some shooters. They've got a lot of good pieces," Hanson said of the Cascades.
UBC and Fraser Valley didn't play in the regular season this year. UBC swept both ends of a regular season doubleheader last season.
Game 2 is slated for Friday (7 p.m.) at War Memorial while Game 3, if necessary, would be Saturday (7 p.m.).
The T-Birds beat visiting Winnipeg both Friday and Saturday and Van Ryk, a second-year outside hitter, had 16 kills and 11 kills, respectively. She tops the Canada West in kills (372), as well as kills per set (4.59). The T-Birds, who are 15-7, carry a seven-match win streak into pair on the road against Calgary this weekend.
The first-year outside hitter had 19 kills Friday and then 22 on Saturday in a weekend sweep of visiting Winnipeg. Winners of seven of their last eight matches, the 9-11 T-Birds head to Calgary this weekend to close out the regular season with a chance to lock down the final Canada West playoff spot.
The rookie goaltender turned aside 29 shots for his first career Canada West shutout in a 2-0 T-Birds win over the host Regina Cougars Saturday night in the regular season finale. Along with his goaltending partner Rylan Toth, the T-Birds have allowed just three goals against combined in their last three games, entering the Canada West playoffs on a three-game win streak. The 14-12-2 T-Birds host Mount Royal for a best-of-three quarter-final series starting Friday (7:30 p.m.) at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Game 2 is set for Saturday (7:30 p.m.), while Game 3, if necessary, would be Sunday (6 p.m.).