Weekend Preview: Saints eyeing top spot on Lower Mainland road swing

First-place Trinity Western University will host second-place Selkirk College in a critical contest this Saturday evening at the Langley Events Centre.

TWU enters the weekend with a two-point cushion on the Saints, with both teams having four games remaining in the regular season. The Spartans will need to earn four points from their final four games to clinch first place.

The Spartans (17-4-0-0) equaled their program-high for wins in a season last Friday night in Aldergrove, earning their 17th victory of the year with an 11-1 win over Eastern Washington. They are now one win shy of beating the program’s best-ever record of 17-5-0-2, which they earned in 2014-15.

In their win over EWU, 14 Spartans picked up at least a point and eight scored goals. TWU blueliner Dustin Deugau was named the BCIHL’s ANYTHING BRANDED Player of the Week following a five-assist night against the Eagles. Kade Vilio added four points in the game, with two goals and two assists.

The Saints, meanwhile, will need to pick up a victory on Saturday to maintain any realistic chance of securing first place and home-ice advantage through the BCIHL playoffs.

Selkirk split its two-game road trip to Vancouver Island last weekend, dropping a 6-2 decision in Victoria before rebounding with a 6-1 win over VIU the next evening. Dane Feeney and Jack Mills each scored a goal and picked up two assists on Saturday in Nanaimo.

The Spartans have gotten the better fo the season series between the teams with wins in their last three head-to-head meetings. Selkirk's lone win over TWU came on home ice back on November 10th. Since then, Trinity Western picked up a 3-2 win at home and sweeping a two-game series in Castlegar on January 12th and 13th.

TWU’s Brayden Brown and Selkirk’s Derek McPhail are tied for second in the BCIHL for goals with 14 while Saints forward Dallas Calvin is first in the league for points with 12 goals and 21 assists. Saturday’s game will feature a matchup against the Spartans league-leading penalty kill (87.4%) against the Saints BCIHL-best power play (25.4%).

Selkirk begins their two-game Lower Mainland road swing on Friday with a visit to Burnaby to face Simon Fraser University. The Clan have spent much of the season in third place, but currently sit just three points back of the Saints for second. The teams meet again next Friday in Castlegar, meaning that the Clan could overtake the four-time champs with a pair of strong efforts.

The Clan scored three goals in the third period on Monday to defeat Vancouver Island University by a 4-1 score and all but solidify the Mariners in the #4 spot come playoff time.

Brendan Lamont continued his hot run of play with a pair of assists in that game, while newcomer Nicholas Holowko extended his point streak to five games. The former WHLer has four goals and two assists in that span.

Both Friday's game at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre and Saturday's contest at the LEC are scheduled for 7:00 PM starts and both will be broadcast live on Hockey TV.