The Trinity Western University Spartans men’s hockey team looks to extend their winning streak as they welcome the Eastern Washington Eagles and the Thompson Rivers WolfPack to the Langley Events Centre this weekend.
Friday's game against the Eagles starts at 7 p.m., while Saturday's against the WolfPack has a 1 p.m. start time. All home games at the LEC can be seen live at www.langleyeventscentre.com.
After a disappointing start to the season, the Spartans have found a sense of cohesiveness in the past few games and have shown promise that belies their 3-6-1 record. The Spartans had last weekend off, but in the week before managed to earn two of their three conference wins.
In the first of two games against the Selkirk Saints, the Spartans were able to pull a come from behind win. The two teams exchanged leads throughout the game, starting with a goal by the Saints in the middle of the first period to open the scoring. However the Spartans quickly rallied with a powerplay goal from Matt Chaput followed by the go ahead goal from Kye Benjaminsen.
In the second period the Spartans were held scoreless while the Saints got two goals to regain the lead. Down a goal, the Spartans came out swinging in the third period. Benjaminsen put the Spartans back even with his shorthanded goal at 4:06, which sparked Brandon Long to score the winning and insurance goals. By end of the game the Spartans managed a 5-3 win over the Saints.
In the next game between the two teams, the Spartans once again were unable to find the net first, and so the Saints were up 1-0 at the end of the first period. But the Spartans were once again able to capitalize and went on to score four unanswered goals by the beginning of the third period. The Saints came back to score two more goals, but it would not be enough to overcome Trinity Western, and the Spartans came home with a 4-3 win.
The Spartan special teams were on fire, as over the two games the Spartans were able to kill 17 of the 19 Saints power plays, while capitalizing on three of eleven power plays.
The Eagles are in their first year in the BCIHL and have been competitive thus far in their season. In their nine games, Bret Kellogg has stood out for Eastern Washington, and has 13 points in the season to put him in the top 10 players of the league in points.
In their last game, the Eagles allowed the Okanagan Coyotes to come from behind to gain a runaway win. The Eagles were dominant for the first part of the game. During the opening period, they were first on the board with a Jake Flynn goal that snuck past the Okanagan goaltender. By the end of the first period the two teams were tied 1-1.
In the second period the two teams traded power plays but neither team was able to get anything going. The score remained tied going into the fourth period. Early in the third period the Eagles’ Elliott Martin broke the deadlock to give the team a 2-1 lead.
But the lead was short-lived as less than 30 seconds later the Coyotes tied it back up. This goal led to a string of Okanagan goals, for a total of six Coyote goals in the third period. Kjell Sherman managed to score a goal on the power play but it was not enough and the Eagles fell 7-3. A scrum towards the end of the game led to a combined six penalties against the two teams.
The Eagles were strong in thwarting the Coyotes power play opportunities, allowing them no goals in their six games. The Eagles own power play was 22% as they went 2 for 9. The Spartans and Eagles have met twice already this season, resulting in two losses for the Spartans by scores of 5-2 and 2-1.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the WolfPack return to Langley after playing a pair of games at home against the Victoria Vikes. On their home ice in Kamloops, B.C. the WolfPack earned two of their four season wins. In the first game the WolfPack got five goals from five different players in an exciting and penalty-filled game.
In the first period the two teams exchanged two-goal streaks to make it a 2-2 tie by the end of the period. The second period saw the WolfPack begin to pull away on the strength of goals by Drew de Frias and Andrew Fisher. Mick Luvig scored the lone goal in the third period to seal the victory.
In the rematch the Victoria Vikes got on the board first, but it was the lone goal for their whole game. The WolfPack made it a tie game towards the end of the first period with a goal from Jassi Sangha. With the game tied, Travis Herlein sent one home for what would be the game winning goal. His goal was followed later in the period by an impressive unassisted shorthand goal by Lucas Daoust.
The WolfPack scored two more insurance goals in the third, one from Mick Ludvig and the other Sangha’s second of the night. By the buzzer the WolfPack earned a 5-1 win to add to their record. The WolfPack struggled on the power play, scoring only one goal in 12 chances over the two games.
Despite this, Thompson Rivers has some sharp shooters on their team, as they have two players in the top five points leaders in the league. The last time that TWU and TWU met, the WolfPack skated away with the 5-1 victory on Oct. 15, 2011.
VICTORIA
SIMON FRASER
OKANAGAN
LOGAN LAKE
VANCOUVER ISLAN.
