Kade Vilio's OT winner lifts Spartans past VIU in regular season opener

Kade Vilio tallied the game winning goal with 48 seconds left in the overtime frame as Trinity Western University opened their 2019-20 B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League regular season schedule with an emphatic win over the Vancouver Island Mariners Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.

Josh Bruce, Elijah Vilio, Travis Verveda and Evan Last also scored for the Spartans, while goaltender Lucas Mills made 25 saves to pick up the victory.

VIU’s Brett Witala had two goals, while Gage Colpron and Garrett Dunlop each added singles. Jeremy Balyk made 40 saves for the Mariners in the loss, as VIU’s record dropped to 2-2-0-1 on the year.

“We’ve had a very abnormal preseason playing lots of different teams at different levels, being banged up and short staffed," says TWU head coach Barret Kropf. "That was reflective in tonight’s game, we had spurts of really good momentum and spurts where we didn’t. I wouldn’t say we had a bad game, but it just looked like we didn’t have the flow we usually do. There was some things tonight we definitely need to keep working on in practice."

First-year TWU forward Bruce opened the scoring at 6:16 of the first period, tallying his first career goal off a backhand. Witala then responded for the Mariners on the powerplay, scoring his third goal of the season to make it 1-1 at 10:20 of the first. Dunlop added another for the Mariners with just over three minutes left in the first making it 2-1 VIU.

The Mariners continued rolling in the second period, with captain Colpron taking a Dunlop feed and beating Mills to push their lead to two. TWU got back within one goal at 6:25 of the second, as a Verveda one-timer on the powerplay beat Balyk to make it 3-2. Another Spartans defenceman then knotted the game up 3-3, with Elijah Vilio jumping in on the rush with an individual effort at 10:01 of the second period.

Witala scored his second of the game for the Mariners at 6:39 of the final frame to regain the Mariners lead, and the back and forth affair continued as Last fired a wrist shot over Balyk’s glove hand to tie the game at 8:13 of the third.

Despite both teams having numerous chances late in the game, including a Mariners powerplay in the final five minutes, regulation time was unable to solve anything. That set up the late game heroics.

After hitting the crossbar earlier in the extra frame, Bruce found Kade Vilio alone in front with 48 seconds left in overtime, who buried it five-hole past Balyk for the game-winner on opening night.

“Full credit to VIU to come in on game two of a road trip," says Kropf. "We battled back from a 3-1 deficit and there was never a moment on the bench with panic or angst. VIU has some consistency in their play so we were lucky to come out with two points and a good lesson. Teams like Vancouver Island are going to come out flying against us and not give us a night off, so we need to make sure we’re always ready.”

Saturday was the first meeting between VIU and TWU since last season’s BCIHL championship series. TWU has now extended their winning streak over Vancouver Island to nine consecutive games, with their last loss against the Mariners coming in Nanaimo on February 24, 2018 (6-5 L).

The Spartans home opener was also their final as a member of the BCIHL as TWU will enter U SPORTS in 2020-21.

TWU continues their homestand next Friday, playing host to Victoria at the Langley Events Centre. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM.