Spartans set for preseason opener versus SFU in inaugural Captains Cup

Trinity Western University will compete in the inaugural Captains Cup, presented by the Vancouver Giants, this weekend when the Spartans play Simon Fraser University Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Surrey Sport & Leisure Centre.

The Captains Cup, which also features the University of British Columbia, will see all three Lower Mainland schools compete in a round-robin style tournament with the top team winning the title.

The preseason tournament opens Friday with SFU travelling to play UBC. The Spartans and Thunderbirds will play the tournament finale Sept. 30 (2 p.m.) at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.

Captains Cup Schedule:

September 15th – SFU @ UBC – 7 p.m. (Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre)
September 16th – TWU @ SFU – 7 p.m. (Surrey Sport & Leisure Centre)
September 30th – TWU @ UBC – 2 p.m. (Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre)

“This tournament gives us a chance to showcase the caliber of post-secondary hockey in B.C.,” said Spartans coach Barret Kropf. “I think it’s a chance for us to show that we belong and once we get more eyeballs on the level of play that exists with us and SFU and UBC, people will start to realize there are a lot of great hockey players still playing after junior hockey and we’re the place to come and watch them.”

This weekend’s tilt mark the start of the Spartans preseason schedule, which will also take them to Edmonton for games against a pair of ACAC (Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference) teams in Concordia University of Edmonton (Sept. 22) and defending league-champion MacEwan University (Sept. 23).

“I think we’re ready for the season to start,” Kropf said. “Our guys are really excited to get in some game action, instead of beating each other up in practice. So, we’re looking forward to getting things going.”

The Spartans open their BCIHL regular season schedule Oct. 6th in Victoria in a rematch of last year’s league championship series.

The goal of the Captains Cup is to promote university hockey in the Lower Mainland, while also raising awareness for the WHL’s Scholarship Program, which is available for players entering into post-secondary hockey.

Between the three teams competing in the Captains Cup, they have a combined 28 players with WHL experience. This includes 22 players with UBC, four with TWU and two with SFU.

The tournament champion will be awarded an historic trophy – the Canada Pacific Exhibition President’s Trophy – that has been in the BC Sports Hall of Fame since 2010.

The trophy was previously awarded to the MVP of the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey League from 1941 to 1947.

The final winner of the trophy was Roy Worrall, who was a goaltender for the Vancouver White Spots, which was a local senior men’s amateur team. After Worrall passed away in 2010, his family donated the trophy to the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

Captains Cup Rules Overtime Rules:

Five-minute overtime, followed by a shootout.

Tiebreaker Rules:

If two teams are tied in points, the team that won the head-to-head matchup will be declared the winner. If three teams are tied in points, the winner will be declared by the team with:

1) The most total goals for
2) The fewest total goals against
3) The fewest total penalty minutes
4) The team who scored the earliest goal in the event