Trinity Western University picked up its third win in a row and fourth victory in five games, earning a 6-1 win over Eastern Washington Friday at the Langley Events Centre on Friday night.
After the Eagles opened the scoring in the first period, the Spartans responded with six unanswered goals to improve to 4-2 on the season and earn their sixth straight win over EWU (2-5), dating back to 2013-14. The Spartans held a one-goal lead going into the final frame, but exploded for four goals in the third period to run away with the win.
“It was another 60-minute effort,” said Spartans coach Barret Kropf. “That’s a couple games in a row where we’ve been able to stitch that together. That’s what we want our DNA to look like. It was just a team effort and, from a coaches’ perspective, it’s great to see everyone buying in and doing what we’re asking them to do. Other than at the end there, we were pretty disciplined, which is something we’ve been working on.”
Andrew Wheeler, Kaleb Denham, Blair Murphy, Mattias Schmitt, Matthew Vela and Jamie Russell scored for the Spartans while Colton St. John was the lone Eagle to find the back of the net.
“I thought Russ had a great game,” Kropf said. “His physicality and calming presence was evident and he was able to get on the scoreboard as well. He was just able to dominate on the boards. And on the back end, we had guys like Lucas Hildebrand and Jacob Mills step up, especially on the four-minute 5-on-3. I also thought Denham had a great performance and for him to get rewarded with a goal was icing on the cake.”
TWU’s Silas Matthys made 47 saves to pick up the win, while the EWU’s Tyler O’Donnell stopped 41 of the 47 shots he faced.
Less than two minutes into the first period, St. John got the Eagles on the board when he capitalized on a TWU turnover deep in the Spartans zone, taking a feed from Brett Matthews and one-touching it past Matthys.
Early in the second period, the Spartans equalized when Wheeler got buried an in-tight opportunity at 2:32. The Spartans took the lead late in the period when Denham scored his first of the season on a one-timer, off a pass from Ryan Bakken, on the power play.
In the third period, the game blew wide open. Murphy started the goal barrage when he pounced on a rebound and slid home his first of the year. Dirk de Waal ripped a shot off the mask of O’Donnell and, with the puck sitting loose in the crease, a hard-charging Murphy tapped it in.
The Spartans Schmitt and Vela scored on TWU’s next two shots to put the game out of reach and bury the Eagles. Russell rounded out the scoring with 41 seconds to play in the game.
The Spartans are back on the ice Nov. 14 when they host Simon Fraser at the Langley Events Centre at 7 p.m.
Game Notes: TWU held the Eagles' Beau Walker off the scoreboard for the first time this season…Walker had collected points in each of his first six games…Schmitt has earned at least one point in all six games this year…TWU was 1 for 6 on the power play while EWU was 0 for 7.
VICTORIA
SIMON FRASER
VANCOUVER ISLAN.
LOGAN LAKE
OKANAGAN
