Trinity Western University exploded for three third period goals to defeat visiting Selkirk College by a 4-2 score in BCIHL hockey action on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.
The victory moves the Spartans to within one point of the first place Saints. TWU at 7-2-0-1 now has 15 points, while Selkirk at 8-3-0-0 has 16 points.
“We have played through some adversity against two good hockey teams. We are starting a collection of broken noses and shoulders and guys are just playing through the adversity and our trainers are just Mashing our unit together so that we can finish a game,” commented TWU head coach Barret Kropf.
“Going into the break we are pretty happy with where we are at. All of our guys have been staying positive even if they haven’t gotten the minutes or games that they have expected. We had two of our top forwards out tonight and two guys with broken noses. We have been preaching to the guys that you are not a back-up, but you are the next up, so we are pretty proud of our first half of the season.”
TWU third year goalie Silas Matthys made 34 saves to record the victory, while the Saints James Prigione made 26 saves in the loss.
The first period had Selkirk with a slight edge in play, outshooting TWU 9-7. But the Spartans were able to open the scoring at 15:54. Grange Gordon was sent up the right side on a cross ice pass from Florian Niedermaier. Once Gordon gained the zone he laid a drop pass to Ryan Bakken at the top of the circle. Bakken beat Selkirk’s Prigione with a quick snap shot to the lower glove side to give TWU the early 1-0 lead.
After the first intermission the Saints started with a double-minor power play and quickly tied the game up with a goal at 1:03 of the second period. Nathan Browne took a pace from Dane Feeney and beat TWU’s Matthys with a shot through traffic from the right face-off circle. Selkirk controlled much of the play through the period and out shot TWU 17-11 in the period, but the score would remain tied after 40 minutes.
“Between the second and third period we talked with our guys and said that they, Selkirk, were really starting to squeeze their sticks. Some of their guys who normally produce and haven’t for a few games were starting to get a little agitated and when you do that everything else starts to fall away,” added Kropf.
“We juggled the lines a little in the third and kept reminding the guys that we didn’t need five goals to win we just needed one. We just made sure we took the pressure off of our players. The guys really played well with what we asked of them and they were playing loose and with freedom.”
Twenty-two seconds into the third TWU’s Kaleb Denham put the Spartans back on top with a power-play goal. The play started in TWU’s zone. The Spartans' Jamie Russell took a pass up the right side from Ryan Bakken, went through centre ice and then found Denham heading up the left side. Denham crossed the blue line and from the top of the circle sent a blast high glove side to put TWU up 2-1.
The Spartans got the eventual game winner on a power play goal at 11:51 of the third. TWU’s Mills took a high shot from the right point that was blocked in traffic. The rebound came to rest at the skates of the Spartans captain Blair Murphy. From the left circle Murphy beat Selkirk’s Prigione through traffic to give TWU the 3-1 lead with just over nine minutes remaining in the game.
Selkirk pulled to within one goal at with just over two minutes remaining. The Saints got a two on one break after a failed TWU pinch-in. Selkirk's Danny Vlanich broke up the left side with Troy Maclise on the right. Vlanich played the perfect pass across to Maclise, who then beat Matthays and make the score 3-2 for the Spartans at 17:56 of the third.
The Saints pulled Prigione with 1:50 remaining to get the extra attacker. TWU’s Dirk de Waal got the clincher for the Spartans with 51 seconds remaining to make the final 4-2 for TWU.
The Spartans are now off until the New Year. TWU will resume BCIHL action on January 8 and 9 with a double header road trip to Victoria to play the UVic Vikes.
Prior to that Trinity Western will travel to the USA to play the University of Wisconsin on January 1 and the University of Nebraska-Omaha on January 2.
Game Notes: Selkirk outshot TWU 36 to 29… the Spartans were 2-8 on the power play, while the Saints went 0-5…
VICTORIA
SIMON FRASER
VANCOUVER ISLAN.
LOGAN LAKE
OKANAGAN
