Duncan records first BCIHL win as Spartans top EWU to close out road trip

Trinity Western University bounced back from a loss against Selkirk on Friday night to earn a 3-1 win over Eastern Washington on Saturday evening in Cheney.

The Spartans put together a strong effort in which they outshot EWU 52-31 and were the better team from start to finish.

Kade Vilio, Stefan Gonzales and Kenny Batke scored for TWU while third-year goaltender Allistair Duncan stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced to earn his first ever BCIHL win.

“I thought our guys put in a 60-minute effort," says TWU head coach Barret Kropf. "I thought our compete level was high and we stayed disciplined. We put 50 some shots on their net and probably missed another 20, so we really buzzed around in the offensive zone and created a lot of turnovers. Their goaltender played really well but we got the bounces that we needed tonight."

The Eagles' Brett Matthews opened the scoring just over five minutes into the game and the home side held a lead until early in the second period when Vilio equalised. TWU’s Karsten Seidel picked up the helper on the goal.

Midway through the second period, Gonzales put TWU ahead for good. Elijah Vilio registered an assist on the goal. The second-year Batke, who scored his first goal as a Spartan in Friday’s game against Selkirk, cemented the win with a goal at 7:53 of the third period.

TWU was zero for four on the power play, while EWU was unsuccessful on seven power play opportunities. QUOTABLE Head Coach

“We knew we have a couple of really important games coming up next weekend, so it was important to get that confidence back up again. It was good to see Allistair get his first win and a guy like Karsten Seidel played a lot of important minutes and made a lot of really smart plays tonight and that was like many players throughout our lineup.”

The Spartans are back at the Langley Events Centre Nov. 16-17 when they host Simon Fraser University on Thursday and Selkirk College on Friday. Both games start at 7:00 PM.