TWU takes rare two points from Castlegar visit after OT win over Selkirk

Jamey Kreller scored in overtime as Trinity Western University earned a 7-6 win over Selkirk College on the road in an offensively-charged game on Friday at the Castlegar Recreation Centre.

After the Spartans gave up several leads throughout the game, including a two-goal third period edge, TWU finally finished off the Saints in the extra session, with Kreller converting a two-on-one with a solo effort, cutting into the middle and putting a backhander by Selkirk goalie Brett Huber.

The winning goal capped a wild contest in which TWU had leads of 2-0, 5-2 and 6-4. Selkirk’s Dan Feeney scored at 8:33 of the third period to force overtime.

The victory puts the Spartans (9-3-0-0) one point clear of Selkirk (8-4-0-1) with one game in hand. TWU will make up that game Saturday when it plays winless Eastern Washington.

Kreller’s game-winner was part of a five-point night in which he tallied two goals and three assists. TWU’s top line combined for 14 points, with Jarrett Fontaine also having a five-point performance, tallying a hat-trick to go with two assists, and Evan Last picking up four assists. Brett Wur and Dirk de Waal also scored for TWU.

Selkirk had six different goal-scorers, including Gordon Campbell, Seth Schmidt, Ryan Edwards, Matt Martin, Alex Milligan and Feeney.

“We played well and got up and then we had a few errors and they capitalized and then in overtime, we had a couple great defensive plays and then the final two-on-one was a really nice play with Last and Kreller,” said Spartans coach Barret Kropf. “Our top line played really well tonight and the power play was really good, which was great to see again. On the road, any win is great. Overtime just feels that much better.”

TWU was two for two on the power play.

Silas Matthys made 33 saves in the loss. Austin Wells stopped 14 shots for the Saints before giving way to Huber, who finished with 19 saves.

De Waal opened the scoring at 13:47 of the first period before Fontaine scored his first of three 1:27 later. Edwards got Selkirk within on with just over three minutes left in the first period.

The Saints Schmidt tied the game at 5:14 of the second period. Fontaine and Wur then buried back-to-back power play goals before Fontaine scored with 4:52 to play in the middle stanza. Martin replied at 16:48 and Campbell made it once again a one-goal game with 1:47 to play in the second.

Forty-three seconds into the third period, Kreller reestablished TWU’s two-goal margin, but Milligan and Feeney tallied just 31 seconds apart to tie the game again.

Game Notes: Last is now the BCIHL’s scoring leader with five goals and 18 assists…Fontaine is third (11G and 9A) in league scoring and Kreller is sixth (6G and 10 A)…the Spartans are 3-2 against Selkirk this year…TWU and Selkirk play once more in the regular season in Langley, B.C. (Feb. 10).