Spartans drop fifth straight as second period surge lifts EWU to road win

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On the back of three second period goals the Eastern Washington University Eagles defeated the Trinity Western University Spartans 4-2 in BCIHL action on Saturday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.

The Spartans had the advantage in play for much of the game, particularly in the second period when they outshot the Eagles 22-7 on their way to a 46-29 shot advantage.

But Eastern Washington goalie BJ Leach was up to the task and stopped 44 shots on his way to the win.

The loss drops the Spartans to 5-6-0, and puts them on a five game losing streak, while the win moves the Eagles to 3-5-0-1.

"Hats off to Eastern they had a terrible schedule as they played last night at home and had to get on a bus right after the game and drive all night to get here for the 2:00 PM start," commented TWU head coach Barret Kropf after the game. "For them to come in here and their goalie to put on the performance that they did is a credit to their team."

"That is the second time that we've outshot them two to one and he has stolen four points for them. They had guys diving and blocking shots. Those are little things we have to do and our intensity has to get better. In the second period, yes we had lots of chances, but we were giving up a lot defensively, which they capitalized on."

"Overall we have to find a way to keep improving and over the next two weeks get to a point to where we are competing with more urgency and playing as a team that competes for 60 minutes."

After a scoreless first period, which each team managed 10 shots on goal, the scoring opened up in the second period. The Eagles got the opening goal at 14:16 from Elliott Martin, with assists to Alec Burks and JR Strait. Just over a minute later the Spartans Mattias Schmitt found the five-hole to tie the game at 1-1, with assists going to JP Villeneuve and Aaron Gruenhage.

The TWU celebration was short lived as EWU took the lead again 13 seconds later on a goal from Jake Flynn. Tyler Mort got the eventual game winner at 8:53 to give Eastern Washington a 3-1 lead at the end of the second period.

The Eagles quickly added to their lead to start the second period, when Uriah Machuga went top shelf to give Eastern Washington a 4-1 lead. The Spartans were got to within two again when Jamey Kreller, with assists to JP Villeneuve and Aaron Gruenhage, made the score 4-2 with 7:56 remaining.

TWU goalie Silas Matthys made 25 saves in the loss.

Next up for the Spartans are the final two games of the semester, both against Simon Fraser University. TWU will be on the road on Saturday, November 23th, before returning home for the final game on Thursday, November 28th.

Game Notes: the three stars were: EWU Kjell Sherman, EWU Uriah Machuga and TWU’s Jamey Kreller…the Spartans had the only power play of the game.