Spartans see 8-game winning streak snapped with road loss at UVic

Trinity Western University lost in regulation for the first time in over three months as the Spartans third period rally came up just short in a 5-4 loss to the University of Victoria on Saturday at the Ian Stewart Complex.

After the Vikes opened a 4-1 first period lead, the Spartans roared back to make it a one-goal game with a furious third period rally, but ultimately came up one goal short.

A day after the Spartans clinched first place in the BCIHL with a 10-4 win over Victoria, TWU saw its eight-game winning streak snapped against the second-place Vikes. The Spartans last regulation loss was on Oct. 31, when they fell 3-1 against Victoria.

The Spartans are now 15-3-0-2 on the season with all three regulation losses coming against Victoria. The Vikes are 10-7-0-3.

Cody Fidgett scored twice while Blair Murphy and Ryan Bakken also tallied for the Spartans. Victoria’s Evan Warner had two goals for the home side while Wolfgang Schoenefuhs, James Tindle and Cole Conway provided the rest of the offence for the Vikes.

TWU goalie Nic Clark made 17 saves on 21 shots in the first period, but was replaced by Silas Matthys to start the second. Matthys stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced.

Victoria’s Scott Legault made 25 saves to earn the win.

“It was a little bit of a frustrating game,” said Spartans coach Barret Kropf. “Victoria came out flying out of the gate tonight and we didn’t. We had to battle our way back and in the end we made of game of it, but it doesn’t help when you give a team four goals in the first period. But Victoria is rolling and the Vikes deserve to be where they are at. There is lots of work and little adjustments to be made before the playoffs and we’re just thankful we have three or four games here to fine tune before the post-season.”

“Overall, for the weekend, it was good to get some younger guys in the lineup and develop our guys as we look to continue to move forward.”

Just 10 seconds into the game, Tindle opened the scoring for Victoria and sparked a three-goal barrage – including a pair of goals from Warner – that put the Vikes up 3-0 before the game was seven minutes old. Fidgett responded to make it 3-1 but with 1:22 left in the period, Victoria restored its three-goal lead with a power play marker from Conway.

After both teams were held off the scoreboard in the second period, the Spartans launched their comeback bid early in the third period. Fidgett scored at 6:09 of the final frame on the power play to make it a 4-2 game. Just over two minutes later, Murphy tallied to make it a one-goal game.

However, with just under five minutes to play, Schoenefuhs scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal. TWU’s Bakken scored with 2:13 left in the period, but that was as close as the Spartans would get.

TWU is back in action Feb. 14 when it travels to play Simon Fraser at 7:00 PM. Victoria returns to the ice Feb. 20-21 when it hosts Selkirk.

Game Notes: The Spartans were one for seven on the power play while Victoria was one for eight…Victoria outshot TWU 45-29, including a 21-8 edge in the first period.