Fontaine, Sylvain combine to lead Spartans to road win over Mariners

Trinity Western University made it a weekend sweep of Island foes with a 3-2 victory over Vancouver Island University on Saturday night at the  Nanaimo Ice Centre. The win, combined with last night’s victory in Victoria, moves TWU to an impressive 8-1 on the season. The loss drops the Mariners to 6-4-0-1.

TWU third year forward Jarrett Fontaine scored twice, while third year forward Josph Sylvain got the game winner early in the third period to lead the Spartans to the victory.

The Spartans fourth year goalie Lucas Mills was solid in net TWU making 40 saves in the win, while the Mariners netminder Brett Clark made 29 saves in the loss.

The Spartans opened the scoring in each of the periods, with the Mariners responding with tying goals in the opening two periods.

Fontaine opened the scoring at 11:01 of the first period, with the assist going to fifth year forward Florian Neidermaier. The Mariners' Michael Olson-Eyre tied the game with 3:32 remaining in the opening frame.

At 11:37 of the second period Fontaine got his second of the night on the TWU power play on a feed from third year forward Evan Last. VIU once again tied the game with Alex Milligan scoring at 18:24 to make it 2-2 heading into the final 20 minutes. Sylvain got the game winner 4:59 into the third period with fourth year forward Dylan Sakatch and second year defenceman Elijah Vilio earning the assists.

"Pretty happy being able to come out of the weekend with four points and not give up any points and that we are able to take advantage of our games at hand," says TWU head coach Barret Kropf. "There is so much parity in our league that anytime you can get separation early in the season will help us in the second half.”

“VIU played really well tonight. Last night was a 60 minute effort for us, and tonight was probably a good 50 minute effort. We had a few lulls, but that is where young Mills was able to step up and have our back. And even our D-core had a solid game blocking shots and making key step ups in the las five minutes. But we are pretty happy with the effort of all 20 guys in the line-up tonight.”

Trinity Western is now 3-0 against Vancouver Island this season, and 6-2 since the Mariners entered the BCIHL last season.

With his two assists this weekend Evan Last becomes the all-time TWU BCIHL point leader with 75 points (22-53), passing Mattias Schmitt who had 73 points (28-45) between 2012-13 and 2015-16.

“Evan has been very consistent over the last couple of the years and it is nice to see him earn this accomplishment,” commented Kropf.

TWU will now head home to finish off the first half of the BCIHL season against the University of Victoria Vikes on Friday, November 30 and Saturday, December 1. Friday’s game time is set for 7:00 PM while puck drop on Saturday is scheduled for 12:00 PM.