Trinity Western University did exactly what they needed to do on Friday at the Langley Events Centre, scoring twice in the first period and then largely controlling the tempo of the game the rest of the way to earn a quality 4-2 victory over Eastern Washington University.
It wasn’t flashy, but the Spartans put together a hard-fought effort as they picked up their first home win of the season and returned to .500 on the year, at 2-2.
Other than a brief blip late in the second period, when EWU scored twice in 1:17, the Spartans looked in control throughout and held off the Eagles (1-2) down the stretch.
Mattias Schmitt and Matthew Vela got things rolling offensively for TWU with goals in the first period while Jamie Russell tallied in the second and Matthew Bissett scored his first as a Spartan in the third. Beau Walker and Jesse Collins scored for EWU.
Aaron Oakley started in net for TWU and stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced to earn the win. Austin Brihn made 37 saves for EWU.
“I thought it was a good effort by our guys,” said Spartans coach Barret Kropf. “We had a few rough patches in the second period, but we talked to the guys about leveling our game out and not getting too high or too low and hitting the reset button quicker on stuff like that. There have been a few games this year where we have got up early and then let the foot off the gas a bit. In the third period, we got back to basics and kept things simple.”
“For the most part, I think we’re fairly happy with the way we were able to close that out and build on that for next week. It was a team effort by 20 guys.”
Schmitt opened the scoring at 11:13 of the first period when he stuffed in a wraparound past Brihn. Then, with 3:54 left in the first period, the Spartans scored their first power play goal on home ice of the year when Vela tipped a point shot from Jacob Mills, corralled the puck and tapped it past Brihn. Mills finished with two assists on the night.
Russell put TWU up 3-0 midway through the second period when he pounced on an in-tight rebound after a partial breakaway from Andrew Wheeler. The Eagles responded late in the period when Walker and Collins combined for two goals in just over a minute to make it a one-goal game going to the final frame.
However, at 8:50 of the third period, Bissett salted the game away when he slapped a long shot past Brihn.
The Spartans are back on the ice Oct. 23 when they will host Victoria.
Game Notes: TWU defenceman Ryan Bakken and EWU’s Matt Lucero received game misconducts for fighting with 1:59 left in the second period…TWU was 1/4 on the power play while EWU was 0/4.
VICTORIA
SIMON FRASER
VANCOUVER ISLAN.
LOGAN LAKE
OKANAGAN
