Weekend Preview: TWU looks to stay perfect, spoil SFU's home opener

With about three minutes remaining in the second period of Saturday's game against Selkirk College, it's not unfair to say the weekend had so far taken a handful of wrong turns for Simon Fraser University. The Clan had opened their regular season the night before in Castlegar and found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-1 decision, and nearly two periods into the rematch they were trailing 4-1.

Fast forward about 25 minutes of clock time and the scoreboard told a much different story. First, Nicholas Holowko scored with 41 seconds remaining in the second period to pull the Clan within two.

They would make up the different on third period markers from Graham Smerek and Jaret Babych, setting up an OT winner from Eric Callegari. And with that, SFU split the weekend series and the mood on their long bus ride home changed considerably.

On Saturday, Simon Fraser will look to keep their momentum rolling when they welcome defending champions Trinity Western University to Burnaby for their home opener at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre.

The Spartans will be hoping to do the same, as they opened their regular season with a pair of home ice victories over VIU. TWU veteran forward group of Jarrett Fontaine, Evan Last, Brandon Potomak, Brayden Brown and Kade Vilio wasted little time picking up where they left off in last year's playoffs, combining for seven goals and 15 points on the weekend.

One key question heading to the season was how the Spartans would fare in the wake of a number of key departures on defence and in goal, including five-year starter Silas Matthys and blueliners Stefan Gonzales and Karsten Seidel. And so far, so good. Jacob Mills posted a 1.82 goals-against average and picked up a pair of wins, while the Mariners were held to just 46 shots on goals.

Last year's season series between the teams was nearly two close to call, as TWU won three of five while outscoring the Clan by a 16-15 margin overall. Both teams won once on the road.

Saturday's game is set for a 7:00 PM puck drop and can be viewed live on Hockey TV.