Evan Last's milestone goal helps push TWU past Vikes on the road

Trinity Western University halted a two-game losing streak with a 55-shot, 5-0 road win over the University of Victoria on Friday evening at the Ian Stewart Complex.

The Spartans had goals from Jarrett Fontaine, Logan Casavant, Spencer Roberts, Evan Last, and Jordan Bogress. Last’s second period marker pushed him into sole possession of 7th all-time in the BCIHL points leaderboard. He is the highest scoring point getter in TWU history, now up to 119 points (42 goals, 77 assists).

Isaac LaBelle made 24 saves for the first-place Spartans, which improved to 18-3-0-1 on the season. Daniel Paul and Tyler Rennie split the goaltending duties for the Vikes (5-15-0-1), with Paul stopping 50 shots.

TWU captain Fontaine got the Spartans on the board just 18 seconds into the first with TWU’s first shot of the game to make it 1-0. Casavant then added another just three minutes later to make it 2-0 for TWU, as the Spartans chased Rennie from the game by scoring on their opening two shots. With 5:14 left in the first period Roberts extended the road team’s lead to three goals, beating Paul after receiving a feed from Josh Bruce to make it 3-0.

The Spartans then extended their lead to four goals courtesy of Last’s goal at the 5:10 mark of the second period. Bogress then closed out the games scoring with 7:58 left in the period off a Joseph Sylvain pass.

The Spartans finished 0-for-6 on the man advantage, while Victoria power play went 0-for-5.

"It was a great 60-minute effort from the whole team tonight," says TWU head coach Barret Kropf. "Isaac had to stay sharp in goal with a bunch of quality chances on net, and it helped as our defenceman moved the puck up the ice with confidence."

"Our top line got some of their swagger back, too, after on the board early and playing with some confidence. It was good to get back in the win column, and we’ll hope to build on this and our good habits tonight as we gear up for the playoffs next month."

Spartans forward Evan Last now sits just four points back of former Selkirk and Vancouver Island forward Dallas Calvin (2015-2019) for sixth all-time in league scoring (123 points).

The Spartans were coming off back-to-back regulation losses for just the first time this season. Friday’s game was the final time TWU will play against the University of Victoria on the road, as the Spartans will transition to U SPORTS for the 2020/21 season.

TWU wraps up their Island road trip against Vancouver Island University on Saturday at 4:00 PM at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.