Schmitt's two-goals carry Spartans past EWU in weekend series opener

Trinity Western University forward Mattias Schmitt scored two goals to lead the Spartans to a 3-1 win over the Eastern Washington Eagles on Friday night at the EWU Recreation Complex in Cheney, WA.

The win improves the first place Spartans to 7-2-0-1 for 15 points, while the loss drops the last place Eagles to 4-7 for eight points.

“We limited our turnovers tonight, which I think was the catalyst for us to getting lots of shots on net and being able to generate lots of offence. Their goaltender played quite well and stopped a number of our opportunities,” commented TWU head coach Barret Kropf.

“From our back end all the way through we did a great job of battling and staying disciplined and making sure we made good choices with the puck coming out of our zone and gaining entry as well. Those were things we wanted to focus on and the guys were able to do it so that we could pull out a road win here tonight.”

“Silas was strong again in net and our D men were moving pucks the way that they are supposed to and our forwards are coming down and supporting the way they need too,” added Kropf. "And our penalty kill was phenomenal tonight, which Grange Gordon did a good job leading, and I thought was important for us as well.”

Mattias Schmitt, who now has seven goals on the season, scored the opening goal at 14:26 of the first period and the game winner at 11:53 of the third period. The Spartans' Jake Harcoff got the insurance goal for TWU at 4:55 of the third period.

TWU’s Silas Matthys made 22 saves to earn the victory, while his EWU counterpart Austin Brihn made 34 saves in the loss.

The Spartans dominated the chances in the first period, outshooting the Eagles 20-7. But even with the sizable advantage TWU came out of the opening period tied 1-1 after EWU opened the scoring just over two minutes into the contest – Cody Ogrin at 17:58 of the opening period.

TWU again held the shot edge in the second period, 9-7, but neither team was able to find the back of the net as they entered the final 20 minutes tied at 1-1.

EWU had the shot advantage at 9-8 in the final frame, but TWU had the goal advantage to win the game 3-1. The two teams will play again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the EWU Recreation Center.

Game Notes: the Spartans finished the night 0-4 on the Power Play, while the Eagles finished 0-5…the three stars were: TWU’s Schmitt, EWU’s Brihn, and TWU’s Matthys…