TWU Game 1 Recap: First period sinks Spartans in 6-1 loss to Selkirk

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Trinity Western University dropped the opening game of their best-of-three B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League championship series, losing 6-1 against Selkirk College on Friday at the Castlegar Recreation Centre.

The hometown Saints opened the scoring just over five minutes into the first period on a goal by Thomas Hardy and never trailed the rest of the way. Selkirk's Stefan Virtanen and Beau Taylor scored before the first period was out to give the Saints a 3-0 lead, which proved to be more than enough to earn the Game 1 win.

The Spartans' Grange Gordon scored at 12:16 of the second to make it a two-goal game, but the Saints' Darnell Dyck responded 1:17 later to restore Selkirk's three-goal lead and thwart any TWU ideas of a comeback attempt.

Taylor scored late in the second to make it 5-1 before rounding out the scoring by completing the hat-trick with just under five minutes to play in the third period. He finished with three goals and one assist to lead the Saints while Dyck had a goal and an assist and Connor McLaughlin added two assists.

Selkirk and TWU will play Game 2 on Saturday at 7:30 PM at the Castlegar Recreation Centre. The Spartans need to win to force a third and deciding Game 3. A Saints win will clinch their second straight BCIHL title with a win Saturday. The game can be seen live at bcihl.fasthockey.com.

Spartans goalie Silas Matthys made 39 saves on 45 shots while Selkirk's Chris Hurry, who won the BCIHL's Top Goaltender award earlier this week, stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced.

The Spartans are now winless in eight attempts against Selkirk this year.

"Championship hockey is another level, beyond even how you would describe typical playoff hockey," said Spartans coach Barret Kropf. "In the first 20 minutes, our guys didn’t bring what they needed to. Selkirk is a championship team and they knew what they needed to bring in that period and we didn't. It's a learning curve for us. We've been making adjustments and learning lessons all year long and I think that was the biggest lesson right there."

"I thought for the last 40 minutes, we skated with them and we weren't making as many mistakes. We just need to correct a few things, watch some film tonight and see what we can do for tomorrow. Overall, we need to be a better 60-minute team, but we definitely need to outperform our first 20 minutes."

With a crowd of 627 filling the rink in support of the Saints, Selkirk got off to a hot start in the first period, scoring three goals and outshooting TWU 19-6.

TWU battled back in the second and did well to keep up with the Saints speed and physicality, but still was outscored 2-1 in the period and trailed 5-1 heading to the final frame. With Gordon’s goal, which was assisted by Trevor Beaupre, TWU looked on the verge of getting back in the contest, but the Spartans momentum was quickly snuffed out by Dyck's tally less than two minutes later. Selkirk outshot TWU 15-11.

In the third period, the Saints held off the Spartans, outshooting the visitors 11-8 over the final 20 minutes, and rolled to the five-goal win. A power play goal from Taylor capped the Saints scoring with 4:31 left in the game.

Game Notes: The Spartans were 0 for 5 on the power play… Selkirk was 1 for 7 with the man-advantage… this is TWU’s first-ever appearance in the BCIHL championship… prior to this year, the Spartans best ever playoff finish was fourth.