Shorthanded TWU grinds out victory over SAIT at BCIHL-ACAC Showcase

Travis Verveda scored the game winner with less than two and a half minutes to play as Trinity Western University got their first win of the preseason with a 3-2 victory over the SAIT Trojans on Saturday evening in Castlegar.

Verveda finished the night with a goal and an assist, while Juliun Uhryniuk had two helpers of his own as the Spartans improved to 1-3-0 in exhibition play.

"That was probably the most gritty win in my seven years with the program here," says TWU Head Coach Barrett Kropf. "We started the game with 15 skaters and quickly went down to 14, and we had guys sick all night. It wasn’t a pretty scene but that’s all we could ice. Because of that, some guys had a ton of opportunity to get lots of minutes, making great plays with lots of confidence."

With the score tied 2-2 late in the third period, TWU had a powerplay opportunity and Verveda made the most of it, finishing a tic-tac-toe play from Jarrett Fontaine and Evan Last.

The Trojans were first on the board when a Zach McNeil shot beat TWU goaltender Lucas Mills less than three minutes into the game. The Spartans then responded late in the second period, when Elijah Vilio scored off a Uhryniuk feed to tie the game up at 18:34.

TWU then took its first lead of the game courtesy of another Vilio, when Kade Vilio scored at 6:34 of the third to make it 2-1. The Trojans responded a minute later, when John Flathers slipped a Slator Ransom feed past Mills to knot the game back up 2-2.

“Overall it was a super disciplined game," says Kropf. "It was very courageous for our guys to play an ACAC powerhouse like SAIT with that many quality players in the lineup. They didn’t back down or concede anything. It was so much fun to see our group of guys battling hard and grinding it out for each other. I’m really proud of them tonight, everyone did excellent and that’s something we can keep working on moving forward.”

The Trojans are coming off a 2018-19 ACAC season, finishing fifth in league standings with a 17-10-1-0 record.

TWU now improves to 1-3 in the preseason, coming off a 3-2 OT loss to Portage College on Friday night (Sept. 27), and a pair of 5-3 losses to UBC (Sept. 13) and SFU (Sept. 21).

The Spartans are next in action on the road in Colorado, taking on Colorado College next Saturday (Oct. 5) before playing Air Force on Sunday (Oct. 6). They open the regular season on Oct. 12 at home against Vancouver Island University.