TWU sweeps Selkirk College, wins first BCIHL title to cap dream season

The third time proved to be the charm for Trinity Western University, who shrugged off two previous B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League finals losses to Selkirk College by topping the Saints 4-1 on Saturday to sweep their best-of-three series and capture their first league championship.

Jarrett Fontaine scored twice and assisted on Florian Niedermaier's game winner to lead the Spartans to a decisive home ice series win after TWU had picked up a 5-1 victory in Game 1 just 24 hours earlier.

The 22-year old opened the scoring just 2:17 into regulation and set up Niedermaier to double the Spartans lead minutes later.

Dallas Calvin put the Saints within one on a second period power-play and the four-time championships went into the third needing one goal to tie the game and keep their season alive. But Fontaine restored Trinity's two-goal advantage just 2:40 into the period and Evan Last netted an insurance marker soon after to put the game out of reach.

Selkirk directed 14 shots on TWU starter Silas Matthys in the final 20 minutes but couldn't close the gap, and the Spartans poured off the bench to mob the Swiss netminder after the clock ticked down to zero. The BCIHL's Top Goaltender award winner for the 2017/18 season stopped 41 shots to pick up his fourth postseason win, while Saints starter Patrick Zubick made 38 saves in the loss.

Fontaine and Last finished the game with three points each while Jordan Rendle added a pair of assists. The trio combined for 28 points in TWU's four playoff contests.

Matthys was able to hoist the BCIHL championship trophy in his final university game following five highly successful seasons. TWU's other fifth-year player, blueliner Stefan Gonzales, won his third league title after being part of Selkirk's championship teams in 2013 and 2014.

The Spartans never trailed in the series and outscored the Saints by a 9-2 margin, finishing off what was a dominant second half of the season. TWU's last regulation loss came back on November 10, and the regular season champs picked up wins in 19 of their last 20 games.

The title win is the first for Trinity Western since the BCIHL formed in 2006. They had been the only remaining BCIHL founding member not to lift the championship trophy, but now join the University of Victoria (2007, 2009, 2012, 2017), Selkirk College (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) and Simon Fraser University (2008, 2010, 2011) on the list of winners.