Photo Credit: Damon James

Coming off two games against the Division I Arizona State Sun Devils, assistant coach Tom Spencer saw the games as learning opportunities.

“It was awesome, we had a good time. It’s a good eye-opener to where Division I’s at,” he said. “It was a good experience for the players, we’ve learned a lot as a coaching staff as well, but we gave [Arizona State] a lot to handle on Saturday night.”

But now, the team jumps right back into BCIHL action with a pair of tough games, starting the weekend off against UVic in Victoria on Friday, before returning home the next night to face Eastern Washington.

“[They’re] big games for us. We need to get back into the swing of things in our league, and we need to be aggressive,” Spencer said.

“Victoria’s really tough, [. . .] they’ve got a few new bodies in the lineup, and they’re really good in their own rink — it’s a little bit smaller, a little bit tighter, so we need to bring our A-game. We don’t want to be spotting points to teams this late in the season,” he explained. “Coming home Saturday, it’s one of those games, travelling in the morning, got to play at night. We’ve got to make sure we get our rest, and make sure we take care of ourselves [. . .] it’s going to be a tough game.”

With injuries suffered in Arizona, Scott Patterson and Dustin Cave are unlikely to play Friday, though Cave may be ready for Saturday — he will be a game time decision.

Tyler Basham (shoulder) will not play this weekend.

Jordan Liem and Lyndon Stanwood are expected to split goaltending duties.