Selkirk wins third straight, ruin Spartans' perfect start on home ice

The Selkirk College Saints handed Trinity Western University their first loss of the 2018/19 BCIHL season with a 4-2 win on Friday night at the Castlegar Recreation Complex.

The loss drops the Spartans to 5-1-0, while the win improves the Saints to 4-3-0-2. TWU fourth year goalie Allistair Duncan made 26 saves in the loss, while Selkirk’s Tallon Kramer made 39 saves to earn the win.

The Saints special teams had the better of the Spartans tonight. Selkirk finished the night with two power-play goals as well as a short-handed goal. 

“I thought our guys competed and had push back in terms of trying to force the play at the net," says TWU head coach Barret Kropf. "But their goalie made some fantastic saves to give their team a chance to win the game. But overall it was a good effort and we will credit them for earning one tonight.”

“They are a great team in their home rink. They know how play and they played tenacious physical hockey and never quit. Their special teams were good with two power play goals and a short-handed goal.”

The Saints Parker Wakaruk opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 2:24 of the first period. Selkirk doubled their lead at 1:44 of the second period when Andrew Thompson scored to put the Saints up 2-0.

TWU rookie forward Spencer Gerth got the Spartans on the scoreboard at 9:36 of the second period. Gerth took a pass across the slot form second year forward Brandon Potomak and beat Saints goalie Kramer to make it a one goal game. Potomak tied the game up at 18:17 when he went top shelf on Kramer from outside the left face-off circle.

In the third period the Saints took advantage of their power play. Selkirk’s Logan Styler got the game winner just 5:12 into the final period. Selkirk’s Andrew Thompson got the insurance goal on a short-handed break-away at 7:56 after intercepting a D-to-D pass in the defensive end of the rink.

Trinity Western Spartans beat the Saints earlier this year 4-1 at the LEC in Langley, B.C on Oct. 26. The Spartans last BCIHL loss was 6-5 OT to Vancouver Island on February 24. Since then TWU has gone 10-0 in league and postseason play.

TWU outshot Selkirk 41-30. The Saints were 2-5 on the power-play, while the Spartans were 0-5, including giving up the short-handed goal.

These two teams will play game two of their weekend matchup Saturday night at 7:00 PM. The game can be viewed live online on HockeyTV.com.