Costly third period start the difference as loss locks TWU into 3rd place

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Two minutes proved to be the difference as the Trinity Western University Spartans lost 6-3 to the visiting Selkirk College Saints in BCIHL action Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.

The loss drops the Spartans to 13-8-0-2, while the win moves the first place Saints to 16-4-0-3. With the loss TWU (28 points) is locked into third place in the BCIHL, while Selkirk (35 points) places in top spot and Simon Fraser (32 points) finishes in second place.

The Saints scored three goals in first two minutes of the third period to come from behind to defeat the Spartans.

Despite being outshot 32-17 TWU had the edge on the scoreboard, 3-2, heading into the final period. But the opening two minutes of the final period were all the Saints needed to get the victory.

“You have to put a 60 minute effort in and we only played for 57 minutes tonight,” commented TWU head coach Barret Kropf. “I thought we did a good job for 40 minutes and then we came out in the third period and they came out flying and we didn’t."

"It is not like it is a rarity for Selkirk to work hard. They are a hard working team and we just were not ready for that. A couple of gratuitous bounces and the next thing you know we are down two goals. And we just didn’t generate enough shots to come back. We had a lot of the tempo and flow in the first period, but we just couldn’t carry it on.”

“We are banged up and have guys playing out of position and are trying to make adjustments. But we have a couple of weeks before playoffs to get guys healthy and get a bit of momentum next week at Victoria.”

Selkirk’s Steven Pantazopoulos tied the game 19 seconds into the third. Then Tylor Branzsen at 1:09 and Derek Georgopoulos at 1:52 scored two goals in 43 seconds to put the Saints up 5-3. The Saints' Alex Milligan scored an empty net goal with 39 seconds remaining in the game to seal the victory for the visitors.

TWU’s Kaleb Denham opened the scoring and unassisted goal at 4:47 in the first period to give the Spartans the early lead. The Saints Tylor Branzsen scored his first of the night to tie the game at 16:09. TWU defenceman Blair Murphy sent Jamie Russell in alone on the Selkirk net at 18:59 to give TWU a one goal lead heading into the first intermission.

At 7:42 of the second period the Spartans Dirk de Waal put TWU up 3-1. Selkirk’s Dane Feeney made it a one goal deficit with a power play maker at 13:38 of the period.

TWU’s Silas Matthys and Aaron Oakley shared the goaltending duties for the Spartans. Matthys started and played 22 minutes, 16 minutes in the first and six in the second period, facing 12 shots, while Oakley played 37 minutes and faced 31 shots. Selkirk’s Brett Huber played the full 60 minutes and made 19 saves to earn the victory.

Next up for the Spartans is the University of Victoria Vikes on March 4th. The game will be played at George Preston Arena in Langley, with a 7 p.m. scheduled puck drop.

Game Notes: Selkirk out shot TWU 43-22…the Saints were 1-5 on the power play, while the Spartans finished 0-4…