Currie shines in goal as Trinity Western concludes season with tie at UVic

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The Trinity Western University Spartans men’s hockey team concluded the 2011-12 BCIHL season with a 1-1 draw with the University of Victoria on Sunday afternoon at the Ian Stewart Complex in Victoria.

The tie ends the Spartans season in sixth place at 4-15-5, while moving fourth place Victoria to 10-11-3.

The Spartans Kevin Currie made 50 saves in the game, of which 27 were turned away in the second period. Victoria’s Jason Margolus made 26 saves on the night.

Neither team could find the back of the net in the first two periods. The University of Victoria’s Dustin Taylor broke the scoreless deadlock at 17:06 or the third period, with assists going to Mark Callaghan and Thomas Burton.

TWU’s leading scorer Brandon Long, got his third goal of the weekend to tie the game less than a minute later, 16:10, with the assists going to Samuel Gemmell and Benson Wu. Long finishes the season in eighth place in scoring with 34 points, 17 goals and 17 assists.

A day earlier, the Vikes captured a win in a high-scoring 7-6 contest when UVic's Justin Ferreira scored with 16 seconds remaining in regulation.

The Spartans were outshot 38 to 23 but were able to stay in the contest with Tim Zweirs making 31 save, and Brandon Long scoring twice in a spectacular nine seconds, while also adding an assist. TWU also had strong games from Joshua Gordon who had one goal and three assists and Josh Stevenson who finished with four assists.

Victoria’s Matthew Bell opened the scoring in the final minute (:25) of the first period to send the home team into the first break with a 1-0 lead. Victoria had much of the play in the TWU end as they outshot the Spartans 13-5 in the opening frame.

The Spartans had the better of Victoria in the second period and despite being outshot 12-10, TWU outscored Victoria four to three to send the two teams into the period tied at 4-4. 

In the third period the two teams exchanged goals to keep things close as the clock wound down. Victoria’s Mark Prest got the first of the period at 18:50. TWU’s Chris Stew, with assists to Josh Stephenson and Joshua Gordon, tied the game at 5-5 with a goal at 14:03. Victoria’s Brett Orser gave the home team the lead on a power play goal at 5:08.

The Spartans kept battling and were rewarded two minutes later, 3:09, on a goal by Sam Gemmell with Gordon and Stevenson earning assists. Victoria would get the draw in the Trinity Western end late in the game to set up the final goal heroics by Justin Ferreira. Victoria would end up outshooting the Spartans 13-8 in the final frame.

Tim Zwiers played the full 60 minutes for the Spartans, while Victoria split the job between the pipes with Robert McLachian earning the win and playing 45:57, with Jason Margolus playing 14:03 as the back-up.

There were four penalties called in the game with both teams going 1-2 on the power play.

To learn more about the Spartans follow them on twitter @TWUSpartans or on Youtube/SpartansSID or visit the official Spartans website at www.gospartans.ca.