Trinity Western tops Eagles for 10th consecutive time in home ice win

Jarrett Fontaine scored twice and both Lucas Hildebrand and Jamey Kreller had three-point nights as Trinity Western University skated to a 5-1 win over Eastern Washington Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

With the game tied 1-1, the Spartans tallied power play goals less than three minutes apart to open a two-goal cushion in the second period. TWU, who had a 42-26 edge in shots, put the game away with two more in the third period.

Stefan Gonzales, Kreller and Hildebrand had the other three goals for the Spartans. Paxton Bell tallied the lone marker for EWU early in the second period to tie the game. TWU has now won 10 straight regular season games against the Eagles. The last time EWU earned a win against TWU was in 2013-14.

In a penalty-filled game, the teams combined for 18 power plays, with TWU scoring on two of its seven chances and the Eagles capitalizing once on 11 opportunities.

"It's good to see that we held them to 26 shots because that's something we've been emphasizing in practice," said Spartans coach Barret Kropf. "And most of their shots were on the power play. Beyond the chaos of the special teams, we played very well five-on-five. We stuck with our system and that's what generated chances and goals. We talked about staying focused and disciplined and tonight is a result of that."

TWU's Lucas Mills, who is the younger brother of Spartan defenceman Jacob Mills, made his first career BCIHL start in goal and earned 25 saves.

"It was nice to see Junior get his first win," Kropf said. "I thought he made the saves when he was challenged and was really solid all night."

Austin Brihn made 37 saves for the visitors.

Fontaine opened the scoring midway through the first period, but Bell's marker less than four minutes into the second period evened the score. Gonzales and Fontaine buried power play goals in the middle stanza before a dominant TWU showing in the third period saw the home side salt away the win.

Kreller put TWU up by three goals at 3:08 of the final frame before Hildebrand potted an empty-netter while shorthanded.

"Our internal player of the game went to Hildebrand," Kropf said. "He's been dealing with some tough things the last couple of weeks with his grandfather's health, so to see him fight through and get that last goal was pretty special and pretty emotional for our team and for him. But that's our family approach and I think we're in a good spot right now."

Game Notes: TWU is 12-9-2 all-time against EWU…only two of the game's six goals were scored at even strength, with three power play goals and one shorthanded marker...TWU had 52 minutes in penalties while EWU had 18.