UNBC's inaugural Canada West basketball campaign to feature 22 games

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The UNBC Northern Timberwolves' inaugural Canada West basketball campaign will begin with six consecutive games against Pacific Division rivals.

The 22-date schedule opens with a road doubleheader against the closest geographical opposing team, Nov. 2 and 3 in Kamloops against the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack. They begin their 2012-13 Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CWUAA) home schedule the following weekend, Nov. 9 and 10 against the Trinity Western Spartans of Langley.

At home two weekends in a row, the Timberwolves host the UBC-Okanagan Heat of Kelowna on Nov. 16 and 17.

The Timberwolves visit Alberta for their first weekend against non divisional foes, playing at Lethbridge against the Pronghorns on Nov. 23 and in Calgary against the Dinos on Nov. 24. They wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule at home against two other squads from the Prairie Division, Nov. 29 against the Alberta Golden Bears of Edmonton and Dec. 1 against the Saskatchewan Huskies of Saskatoon.

The final date of the regular season is Feb. 16. The Timberwolves wrap up their schedule at home against the other expansion team, the Mount Royal Cougars of Calgary, who will visit the Northern Sport Centre for a doubleheader on Feb. 15 and 16.

Although they're based in the same city as the Dinos, Mount Royal joins the Pacific to balance the schedules with two eight team divisions. The other Pacific squads are the Victoria Vikes, the UBC Thunderbirds of Vancouver and the Fraser Valley Cascades of Abbotsford.

The Prairie Division is rounded out by one other Saskatchewan squad, the Regina Cougars, and three teams from Manitoba: the Winnipeg Wesmen, Manitoba Bisons (Winnipeg) and Brandon Bobcats.  All 16 teams in the CWUAA will meet division rivals twice and non divisional squads once.

The Timberwolves' home schedule includes visits from Winnipeg (Jan. 17) and Manitoba (Jan. 19), and a doubleheader against the Thunderbirds on Feb. 8 and 9. They'll also play at Regina (Jan. 11), Brandon (Jan. 12), Fraser Valley (Jan. 25 and 26) and Victoria (Feb. 1 and 2).

Four additional weekends are scheduled for playoffs: Feb. 22 to 24 - Canada West men's and women's quarterfinals; March 1 and 2 - Canada West men's and women's final four; March 8 to 10 -  Canadian Interuniversity Sport men's basketball Final 8 in Ottawa and Round 1 of CIS women's basketball championship ; and March 15 to 17 - CIS women's basketball Final 8 in Regina.

UNBC basketball home start times will be the same as previous seasons, with the women starting at 6 p.m. and the men following at 8 p.m. at the NSC. All but two home dates will be on Friday or Saturday nights. The Nov. 29 and Jan. 17 games fall on Thursday evenings.