Spartans' unbeaten run continues with six-goal effort in home win over UVic

Isaac LaBelle made 40 saves and Trinity Western University got goals from six different scorers en-route to a 6-2 win over the visiting University of Victoria Vikes on Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

With their eight-consecutive victory on the season, the Spartans improved to a league-best 8-0-0-0. The loss dropped last place Victoria to 3-7-0-1.

Jarrett Fontaine, Evan Last, Spencer Roberts, Travis Verveda, Tyler McMinn and Brandon Potomak all scored for TWU.

"The first five minutes was probably the best five minutes of the year," says TWU head coach Barret Kropf. "We did everything we’ve been stressing the last couple weeks and jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead. Then all of the sudden we take our foot off the gas pedal and let Victoria back into it, and it seems to be something we’ve developed a bit of a habit around."

"Going into the third period it was sort of the flip of that, where we got back to doing some of those basics and got a couple goals and stayed on it. We probably had 25 minutes of really good hockey and 35 minutes of not so great."

The Spartans got on the board first when Fontaine scored his third goal of the season in his home debut to make it 1-0. After 5-on-3 penalty kill, the Spartans struck again when Last scored on an odd man rush to stretch TWU’s lead to two. Four minutes later the Vikes finally got on the board, when Callum Volpe scored off a rebound with 6:13 to go in the first period to make it 2-1.

Into the second period TWU regained its two-goal lead with Joe Sylvain streaking down the left wing and feeding Roberts who tapped it in to make it 3-1. Victoria responded again with 6:05 left in the second period with Brock Schwaluk feeding Blake Holowaty to make it 3-2.

The third period saw TWU then take over, with goals from defenceman Verveda at 7:16 and McMinn at 6:04 gave the Spartans a 5-2 lead. Potomak would then add an insurance goal late for the Spartans, as they took the game 6-2.

Victoria went 1-6 on the powerplay, while TWU was 0-4.

Vikes goaltender Daniel Paul made 42 saves in the loss, falling to 2-4-0-0 on the season.

"Victoria did a great job skating with us and controlling some of the play tonight," says Kropf. "It was pretty stressful from the coaching perspective, as we saw so many good things and so many not so good things. Our guys are learning and still trying to find chemistry. It’s hard to build consistency when you don’t have lines staying together consistently. As long as we’re learning when we’re winning, I’m good with that."

LaBelle made 40 saves -- including 16 in a second period where the Spartans were badly outshot --to pick up his third win is as many appearances as a BCIHL rookie.

"Isaac did a great job of giving us a chance to win tonight, and that’s what you want from your goaltending," says Kropf. "I thought he looked extremely comfortable, especially early in the first period where there were a few moments you could tell he was dialed in. The guys knew he had this tonight and that provided confidence to our group."

TWU improves to 2-0 over Victoria this season. The Spartans have now outscored Victoria 22-5 over its last three games, winning their previous matchup against Victoria 9-1 on home ice (Oct. 18).

After picking up two points in the win, TWU forward Evan Last’s 107 career points has him just one point back of Logan Proulx for 10th all-time in BCIHL history.

The Spartans are back in action in two weeks, taking on Simon Fraser Thursday Nov. 28 at the Aldergrove Credit Union Community Centre.