The University of Regina women's hockey team will travel to Vancouver this weekend to take on the No. 8-ranked UBC Thunderbirds in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series.

The Cougars earned a spot in the semifinal by sweeping the sixth-seed Calgary Dinos on home ice last weekend, taming the Dinos with 4-1 and 1-0 wins. Chelsea Perepeluk, Caitlin Dempsey, Kylie Gavelin and Jaycee Magwood scored in the opener, while Bailey Braden's goal and Toni Ross's 29 saves were enough to put the Dinos away on Saturday.

"I thought our overall effort was good last weekend, we came out flying on Friday and played well Saturday," head coach Sarah Hodges said. "I'm glad we played last weekend and had a chance to work out some things."

UBC (13-9-3-3) earned a bye last weekend by finishing second in Canada West in the regular season, one point ahead of the Cougars. The Thunderbirds held the top spot in the conference for the last two weeks of the regular season but were passed by the Alberta Pandas after the final weekend. 

Regina finished the regular season with a 12-10-5-1 record, winning two out of the four games against UBC. The Cougars battled to a 3-2 double overtime win back in October before falling the next night 3-1. The T-Birds got the better of the Cougars again earlier this month, taking a 3-0 victory but the Cougars replied with a 3-2 win the following day.

Despite allowing 66 goals in the regular season, the Cougars defence locked down last weekend – holding the nation's top two scorers without a goal and limiting the Dinos to one goal in two games. Calgary's Iya Gavrilova entered the weekend with 43 points in 28 games and Sasha Vafina had 34 in that span. Ross and the Cougars back line held Gavrilova without a point and limited Vafina to one assist in the quarterfinal series. 

The Thunderbirds were powered by Rebecca Unrau and Kathleen Cahoon in the regular season. Both forwards finished with 12 goals during conference play, while Unrau registered 12 helpers compared to Cahoon's nine. Danielle Dube and Samantha Langford split time in net for UBC, both registering save percentages over .900. Dube had a percentage of .924 to go along with a 1.76 goals-against average while Langford hit marks of .904 and 1.92.

"We've focused on limiting our mistakes with the puck, and that has taken away from opposing chances," Hodges added. "We'll need to do the same thing this weekend – worry about our own game first and make sure we're smart with the puck. If we do the little things right I think we'll be in a good spot."

Friday and Saturday's games are scheduled for 7 p.m. local time, while Sunday's Game 3 will face off at 3 p.m. if necessary.

NOTE: Alberta will host Manitoba in the other conference semifinal after Manitoba's 2-1 win in the fifth overtime of Game 3 against Saskatchewan.