Spartans rebound from back-to-back losses in home ice victory over UVic

Trinity Western University finished off their regular season on a high note on Friday evening, defeating the University of Victoria by a 4-1 score at the Langley Sportsplex.

The victory gives the first place Spartans a final record of 17-5-0-2, while the loss drops the Vikes to 10-10-0-3 and keeps them fourth place, one point behind SFU. The Clan and the Vikes will conclude their regular season schedules tomorrow evening at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre in Burnaby. 

Spartans forward Andrew Wheeler opened the scoring at 9:45 of the first period, but the Vikes were able to get a little momentum at the end of the first 20 minutes with a power play goal from Adam Klein at 19:05 to make the score 1-1 at the first intermission. 

Just over two minutes into the second, TWU’s Grange Gordon got the game winner with a shorthanded goal at 2:01. The goal would be the lone marker of the period as TWU led 2-1 heading into the third. 

Cody Fidgett got the Spartans breathing room at 2:21 of the third and PJ Buys clinched the outcome with a power play goal at 12:04 to make the final 4-1 for the Spartans. 

"We had a solid 60 minute effort tonight," commented TWU head coach Barret Kropf. "All four lines gave us good minutes and our penalty kill carried a lot of momentum. Even though we were shorthanded at times our PK guys worked so hard that it gave us great energy when we were back to even strength."

"It was a good team effort and a great team win and I’m proud of the boys."

Aaron Oakley got the win by making 38 stops for the Spartans, while Victoria’s Jeremy Mousseau made 24 saves in the loss.

"I’m proud of Aaron to come in on short notice and make some big saves for us," said Kropf, after TWU netminder Silas Matthys was a late scratch for the start due to illness.

The Spartans will begin BCHIL play-offs on Thursday, March 5 against either the Clan or the Vikes.

Game Notes: TWU finished with six minor penalties, while UVIC finished with five…Victoria outshot TWU 39-28… Grange Gordon’s shorthanded goal was the first of the season for TWU…