Spartans set for home-and-home with SFU as playoff push hits stretch drive

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Coming off back-to-back wins over the University of Victoria on the road, Trinity Western University will be aiming to keep its momentum rolling when it plays a home-and-home series with Simon Fraser this weekend.

The home-and-home match-up kicks off on Friday at 7:00 PM at the Langley Events Centre and concludes on Saturday evening in Burnaby. Both games will be streamed live on Fast Hockey.

The Spartans (7-10) earned a 6-5 shootout win and a 5-4 overtime win over Victoria last weekend and, with that, completed a four-game season sweep of the Vikes.

Simon Fraser (14-3) also posted consecutive wins on the weekend, beating Thompson Rivers twice, 4-2 and 1-0.

After winning last weekend’s games against Victoria in a shootout and in overtime, the Spartans pushed their record to 3-0 this year when playing beyond 60 minutes. The Spartans also beat Eastern Washington in a shootout earlier this season.

The Spartans power play has found its groove of late. In its last three games, TWU has scored on seven of its 11 extra man opportunities and, in doing so, the Spartans have jumped to third in the BCIHL with a power play now operating at 22.2 per cent for the season. Over TWU’s first 14 games, it was nine for 61 on the power play, which had the Spartans working at 14.8 per cent.

The stretch drive has arrived and with just seven games to play, the push for a playoff spot is on in earnest. The Spartans enter this weekend in fourth place, five points ahead of EWU and six points behind TRU.

But with four games left against the likes of SFU and Selkirk, there is plenty of work still to be done to solidify a playoff position.

The Spartans' JP Villeneuve had a record-setting night last Saturday that saw him collect all five Spartans goals in a 5-4 overtime win over Victoria. He is now eighth in league scoring with 15 goals and 11 assists.

Meanwhile, for the Clan, the regular season goal is simple: finish first.

So far, through 17 games, SFU is on the right track to doing just that. After a loss to TRU Jan. 11, the Clan has won four straight, including wins over TWU, Selkirk and TRU twice.

Simon Fraser has shut the door defensively all year. The Clan enters Friday’s contest with a league-leading 2.24 goals against average. Recently, SFU has been particularly solid on the back end, allowing just seven goals in its last four games.

Goalie Andrew Parent is coming off a 25-save shutout, which is SFU’s fourth goose egg of the year.

While Nick Sandor and Jono Ceci lead the team in scoring with 35 and 34 points respectively, the Clan have seven other players with double-digit point totals. By comparison, TWU has just two players with double-digit point totals.