Balanced offensive attack leads Trinity Western to road victory over Vikes

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In a solid team effort on Friday night in Victoria, the Trinity Western Spartans extended their winning streak to five games with a 6-3 victory over UVic at the Ian Stewart Complex.

The Spartans had six different goal scorers on the evening, while Aaron Oakley made 29 saves to gain the victory and improve TWU to a 6-2-0 record. The loss drops the Vikes to 3-7 on the season.

“In terms of controlling of pace and creating quality scoring opportunities the first 20 minutes was probably our best of the season. Victoria’s goaltender stood pretty big for them. We knew that UVIC would work hard and their power play is really clicking, so we knew it was not going to be an easy game,” commented TWU head coach Barret Kropf.

“It ended up being a quality game and the TSN turning point ended up being Matthew getting a turnover and finding the back of the net. It gave us a little breathing room, but VIC forced us to work hard and stay sharp for the remainder of the game.”

TWU had a significant 46-32 edge in shots, but the Vikes, who went 2-for-8 on the power play, kept things close into the final period.

After two straight third period goals by the Vikes to cut TWU’s lead to one goal, 4-3. The Spartans Matthew Bissett dramatically changed the game with a shorthanded goal with 11:44 remaining.

TWU’s Matthew Vela ended the scoring on the night with an unassisted marker at 16:14 of the final period. TWU’s Kaleb Denham got the Spartans going with a goal at 2:52 of the first period to open the scoring.

The Spartans' Dawson Sawatzky scored an unassisted goal with :40 seconds remaining in the period to give TWU a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Victoria got their first goal of the night at 2:40 of the second period on a power play goal from Cameron Rowat.

TWU would make the score 4-1 heading into the final period with goals from Grange Gordon at 6:13 and Mattias Schmitt at 10:58. Victoria’s Bo Sigurdson scored at 1:32 of the third frame followed by Aaron Enns on the power play at 4:50 to make the game 4-3 for the Spartans midway through the final period.

The Spartans will now travel to Burnaby, B.C. to take on the Simon Fraser University Clan. Puck drop is scheduled for Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Bill Copeland Complex. Game Notes: The Spartans finished the night 0-for-6 on the power play.