Fidgett's four points vs. former team lead TWU to win in home opener

Playing his former team for the first time since transferring to Trinity Western University, forward Cody Fidgett (Richmond, B.C.) put on quite a show Saturday, scoring two goals and adding two assists as the helped the Spartans to a 5-4 win over Selkirk at the Langley Events Centre.

Playing in their home-opener in what was a rematch of last year’s BCIHL championship – a best-of-three series that TWU lost in two games – the Spartans (2-1) earned a little retribution against Selkirk as they beat the Saints for the first time in 11 attempts.

Dating back to the start of last season, TWU had lost 10 straight against Selkirk, including preseason, regular season and playoff games.

The Spartans took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period and never trailed the rest of the way. Selkirk battled back to within one goal four times, but never found the equaliser.

With TWU up 5-3 in the dying seconds, Selkirk’s Logan Proulx made it a one goal game with 20 seconds to play, but that was as close as the visitors would get.

“It was good for our guys to bounce back against a quality team and build some confidence out of that,” said Spartans coach Barret Kropf. “We have to realize and have the confidence that we can play with these guys and not start to squeeze our sticks and panic. We just need to make the smart plays that we know we can. In the third period, that’s what we saw.”

Beyond Fidgett’s pair of goals, the Spartans got goals from Ryan Bakken (Langley), Andrew Wheeler (Maple Ridge, B.C.) and PJ Buys (Newmarket, Ont.). The Spartans' Buys and Bakken also each had an assist, while Jake Harcoff (Surrey, B.C.) had two helpers and Mattias Schmitt (Surrey) and Blair Murphy (Surrey) had one assist each.

Selkirk’s Proulx finished with two goals while Steven Pantazopoulos and Stefan Virtanen had one goal each. Spartans goalie Silas Matthys (Wollerau, Switzerland) made 32 saves in the win while Selkirk’s Mike Vlanich stopped 32 of the 37 shots he faced in the loss.

The Spartans were two for four on the power play while Selkirk was one for four.

The Spartans jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period when Fidgett scored on the power play at 15:54. Then, just 59 seconds into the second period, Wheeler tallied to give TWU a two-goal cushion. Less than two minutes later, Pantazopoulos pulled the Saints within one.

However, Fidgett responded 1:28 after that to restore TWU’s two-goal edge.

It looked like TWU would take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission, but the Saints Virtanen scored with five seconds left in the period to make it a one-goal game with 20 minutes to play.

Not to be beat against his old teammates on this night, it was Fidgett scoring his second of the game less than five minutes into the third period to make it 4-2. Proulx and Buys then traded goals before Proulx’s last-minute goal rounded out the scoring.

“When we reset between the second and third periods, our guys came out with confidence and left fear in the locker room, so I think that was a big step for us,” Kropf said.

Game Notes: The Spartans were coming off a pair of exhibition games last weekend against NCAA Division I opponents St. Cloud State and Minnesota State, Mankato…this is the first time Kropf has coached TWU to a win over Selkirk…the last time TWU beat the Saints was Jan. 18, 2013, when the Spartans won 2-1 in Castlegar, B.C.