Spartans hope to send SFU to .500 with win in Thursday night meeting

Trinity Western University will be back at the Langley Events Centre for the first time in more than a month on Thursday night as the Spartans will host Simon Fraser in their first home game since the Christmas break.

TWU is coming off a weekend sweep on the road against Selkirk College and the first place Spartans will be looking to distance themselves from third place SFU.

This will be TWU and SFU’s fourth meeting of the regular season, with the Clan earning a pair of 5-4 shootout wins and the Spartans picking up a 3-2 win. The last time they played, SFU’s Jono Ceci scored the only goal in the shootout to help the Clan to a victory Nov. 29.

Thursday’s game is set for 7:00 PM and will be broadcast live at www.bcihl.fasthockey.com.

After their best ever fall semester, the Spartans picked up right where they left off to start the winter semester, as TWU opened its January schedule with a pair of wins on the road against Selkirk. Friday’s win snapped Selkirk’s 31-game BCIHL home winning streak and also earned TWU its first win in Castlegar, B.C. since Jan. 18, 2013.

If there was any doubt in anyone’s mind about the reality of the Spartans early season pace, back-to-back road wins against Selkirk will have put those thoughts to bed. The Spartans come into this weekend atop the BCIHL standings and with a five-point cushion on second-place Victoria, including a game in hand, and an eight-point gap on third place Selkirk and SFU.

Last year, TWU took until its third to last game of the season to clinch a playoff spot. A win on Thursday, combined with an Eastern Washington loss would see TWU confirm a place in the post-season with still eight games remaining.

Despite Cody Fidgett being held off the score sheet in Saturday’s game for just the third time this season – although he only played half of the game because he was given a game misconduct midway through the second period – the Spartans sniper moved to the top of the BCIHL scoring race this weekend following a four-point night on Friday.

Fidgett earned his first hat-trick as a Spartan and scored both goals in a third period TWU rally. He enters Thursday’s game with a league best 18 goals and nine assists in 14 games.

The Spartans power play has been the best in the BCIHL all season and, at 30.1 per cent, continues to be key reason for TWU’s success. Of the Spartans 63 goals this year, 19 have come with the man-advantage. At home, the Spartans power play is especially efficient, working at a rate of 35.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, after a 19-win campaign last season the Clan has struggled to find a consistent rhythm this year and enters this weekend just one game above the .500 mark. Last weekend’s loss to Victoria saw SFU remain in a tie with Selkirk for third place and put the Clan three points behind the second place Vikes.

Heading into the Christmas break, Simon Fraser looked to have found its groove, as the Clan won four of its last five games and was trending in a positive direction. The run included wins over all four other BCIHL teams and had SFU moving on up. However, in its first game out of the break, the Clan lost to Victoria 5-2.

Thursday’s game will go a long way to determining if SFU will get back to its late fall form or return to the form that saw the Clan to bump along around the .500 mark.

While third-year forward Nick Sandor is slightly off his 46-point pace from last year, when he averaged 1.9 points per game, he comes into Thursday’s tilt leading SFU in scoring with five goals and 13 assists in 12 games. Prior to last weekend’s loss to Victoria in which he was held off the score sheet, Sandor had an 11-game point streak, having tallied points in every SFU game this season.

The last time TWU and SFU played, Sandor had a goal and two assists in the Clan’s 5-4 shootout win.

\On Thursday, SFU would do well to stay out of the box. The Clan will not only have to contend with TWU’s league leading power play – and one that is especially strong on home ice – but SFU has proven rather unsuccessful on its road penalty killing. The Clan’s penalty kill is working at just 71.1 per cent on the road, allowing 11 goals on 38 opportunities.