Trinity Western drops first of season as Coyotes rally late at home

A third period goal by Okanagan College forward Brock Munro handed the Trinity Western University men’s hockey team their first loss of the 2010-11 season Saturday night in Kelowna, B.C.

The late goal gave the Coyotes the 3-2 win, which improved Okanagan to 2-1, while dropping the Spartans to 1-1 in BCIHL league play and 2-1 overall.

“It was a good game," commented TWU head coach Dwayne Lowdermilk. "Our guys battled and played well, but they came out on top. We were tied going into the third and whoever got the next goal was going to win it. We had a break-down and they had the foot speed to get around us and take advantage of our mistakes.”

“The biggest thing that we need to work on is our power-play. We played way too much on the perimeter. We moved the puck well, but we need to be able to get inside and get more shots.”

The Coyotes came out strong and played well to start the game, but backed by the solid goaltending from John-Paul Chapman, TWU was able to handle the pressure and keep Okanagan off of the scoreboard.

“JP played an incredible game, the whole night was him shining and if he didn’t get a star out of that I’d be shocked, commented Lowdermilk on the strong play of his second year goaltender.

The Spartans opened the scoring with a power play goal by TWU defenseman Brenden Stephens, assist to Joshua Stephenson, when he found the top corner of the Okanagan net in the first period. The period would end with TWU holding on to the slim 1-0 lead.

Spartans forward Ian Spencer got the visitors from Langley their second goal when he scored on the power play to put TWU up 2-0. The goal was set up by the efforts of Kevin Taylor and Josh Stephenson.

“Ian Spencer had a really solid game, got the puck in deep and played a real physical game. That whole line with Stephenson and Long, they were definitely pushing the puck in and keeping them trapped,” said Lowdermilk.

Okanagan was able to tie the game up with back-to-back goals two minutes apart by Brady Mason and Josh Collins to make it a 2-2 game heading into the final period. Chapman had no chance on either goal as they both came off of deflections in front of his net.

Okanagan’s Munro, with the assist to Andrew Rebus, would get the game winner in third on a power-play goal after a flurry of activity in front of the TWU net. TWU battled to get the equalizer, but were unrewarded for their efforts as the fell 3-2.

Next up for the Spartans are two home games at the Langley Events Centre. On Friday, October 8th the Spartans will host Eastern Washington University in an exhibition game, with puck drop scheduled for 7 PM. Then the Spartans will be back at it in BCIHL play Saturday afternoon when they will have a rematch with the Okanagan Coyotes at 2 PM.