Inside the walls of the SAIT Polytechnic gymnasium, good things happened for the UNBC Northern Timberwolves last season.
In a December tournament, they won all three games they played. In March, they were back on the same floor as the top seed in the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association national championship gathering. At nationals, the Timberwolves again went 3-0, including a 96-63 victory against the host SAIT Trojans in the final game.
Today, and for the following two days, the T-wolves will be at the scene of their previous triumphs. They are entered in the same post-Christmas tournament and, naturally, are looking for more success.
"Obviously you want to come back here and try to do the same thing the guys did last year," said UNBC coach Todd Jordan, as the team bus made its way to Calgary on Monday. "We'll take it a game at a time I guess.
"A lot of the guys have really good memories in that gym so hopefully that acts in our favour."
In their opening game this afternoon, the Timberwolves will tip off against the NAIT Ooks of Edmonton. Based on the national rankings, the contest should be a tight one. The T-wolves come in as the No. 7 team in the country and the Ooks are No. 8.
In a pre-season game between the two clubs, the Ooks beat the Timberwolves 96-85.
"They're definitely a team that creates some problems," Jordan said of the Ooks. "They've got some long athletes and they're one of the powerhouses in the country so it will be a tough battle for us.
"When we played them earlier in the year we turned the ball over too much so that's going to be one of the things we try to change (today)," Jordan added. "Obviously we have quite a bit more stuff in (our playbook) than we did at that point so we'll show them some different looks than we had last time. For us, the tournament is kind of about getting into things again after the Christmas break. We'll try to concentrate on what we do and try to get a little bit sharper going forward with the season next semester."
The Timberwolves will also play the Keyano College Huskies of Fort McMurray on Wednesday and the Trojans on Thursday.
One guy not on the trip is guard Robert Rodriguez, a key off-season recruit from Sacramento, Calif. Rodriguez, in his third year of eligibility, is in academic limbo so he's currently ineligible to play.
"He ended up having to get one of his grades deferred and he's going to be writing his test coming up," Jordan said. "Once we hear back from that, then I'll know (his status for the second semester). Everybody else is through for sure so it looks like we did pretty well.
"(Rodriguez) is a pretty good athlete and he brings some pretty unique things. You never want to lose anybody, obviously. We should be OK there, I hope."
Guard Sam Raphael missed the final two outings of the first semester because of an ankle sprain but Jordan has him penciled into the lineup for this week's games.
"I talked to him (Monday) and he said it's still feeling a little bit weak but he's ready to go," Jordan said. "He's going to be playing and he should be back to 100 per cent by the time we get back to league play."
For the Timberwolves, the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association season resumes with Jan. 14-15 road games against the Quest University Kermodes of Squamish. In the 10-team league, UNBC sits third with a 5-2 record.
