Spartans bounce back from SFU defeat to dominate Eastern in shutout win

Trinity Western University responded from a tough mid-week loss to Simon Fraser with a dominant effort Saturday evening that saw the Spartans thump Eastern Washington by a 7-0 score at the Langley Events Centre.

Kade Vilio scored twice for TWU (4-2-0) and added two assists to lead the Spartans offensively on a night when 13 different players picked up at least a point.

Stefan Gonzales, Evan Last, Jordan Rendle, Jarrett Fontaine and Dustin Deugau also scored for the Spartans. Dirk de Waal had a three-assist night, while Kaleb Denham added two assists.

Lucas Mills made 25 saves to earn the win. Eastern Washington, who is now 0-6-0 on the season, saw Austin Brihn stop 28 of the 35 shots he faced.

“I thought we moved the puck really well and I think they were taking a page out of Simon Fraser’s book and trying to plug up the middle," says TWU head coach Barret Kropf. "But I thought for the most part we were consistently moving the puck with speed and that’s what we want to be doing. They just weren’t able to skate with us for 60 minutes."

Gonzales opened the scoring in the first period before Fontaine doubled TWU’s lead in the middle frame. Just over a minute into the third period, Vilio scored his first of the night to help get the offensive ball really rolling. Last and Deugau tallied before Rendle scored a power play goal with 2:26 to play and Vilio buried with 1:24 on the clock while shorthanded.

The Spartans outshot EWU 35-25. TWU was one for five on the power play, while EWU was unsuccessful on all five of its opportunities. 

“It’s no secret that we have a fast team and teams are trying to figure out a way to slow us down. Tonight I thought we put in a good 60-minute effort. We knew we had to neutralize Eastern Washington’s top line and Kade Vilio, Dirk de Waal and Dustin Deugau did a great job of shutting that line down.”

Deugau’s goal was his first as a Spartan in his 25th game while Vilio had more points Saturday than he did all last season, when he registered one goal and two assists in 17 games.

In their four wins this year, TWU has scored a combined 29 goals.

The Spartans are now second in the BCIHL standings, trailing Selkirk, who has started the year with six straight wins. TWU now has four of the top five scorers in the BCIHL, with de Waal (11 points), Brandon Potomak (10), Last (9) and Vilio (9).

The Spartans are back on the ice Nov. 4 when they host Vancouver Island University at 5:00 PM at the LEC.