Box Score LANGLEY, B.C. – Isaac LaBelle (Saskatoon, Sask.) made 46 saves and the Spartans got goals from six different goal scorers en-route to a 6-2 win over the visiting Victoria Vikes Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
With their eight-consecutive victory on the season, the Spartans improved to a league-best 8-0-0-0. The loss dropped last place Victoria to 3-7-0-1.
Jarrett Fontaine (Humboldt, Sask.), Evan Last (Surrey, B.C.), Spencer Roberts (Langley, B.C.), Travis Verveda (Alix, Alta.), Tyler McMinn (Wilsall, MT), and Brandon Potomak (Aldergrove, B.C.) all scored for TWU.
The Spartans got on the board first when Fontaine scored his third goal of the season in his home debut to make it 1-0.
After 5-on-3 penalty kill, the Spartans struck again when Last scored on an odd man rush to stretch TWU's lead to two.
Four minutes later the Vikes finally got on the board, when Callum Volpe scored off a rebound with 6:13 to go in the first period to make it 2-1.
Into the second period TWU regained its two-goal lead, with Joe Sylvain (Girouxville, Alta.) streaking down the left wing and feeding Roberts who tapped it in to make it 3-1.
Victoria responded again with 6:05 left in the second period, with Brock Schwaluk feeding Blake Holowaty to make it 3-2.
The third period saw TWU then take over, with goals from defenceman Verveda at 7:16 and McMinn at 6:04 gave the Spartans a 5-2 lead.
Potomak would then add an insurance goal late for the Spartans, as they took the game 6-2.
Victoria went 1-6 on the powerplay, while TWU was 0-4.
Vikes goaltender Daniel Paul made 42 saves in the loss, falling to 2-4-0-0 on the season.
QUOTABLE
Barret Kropf – TWU Head Coach
"The first five minutes was probably the best five minutes of the year. We did everything we've been stressing the last couple weeks and jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead. Then all of the sudden we take our foot off the gas pedal and let Victoria back into it, and it seems to be something we've developed a bit of a habit around. Going into the third period it was sort of the flip of that, where we got back to doing some of those basics and got a couple goals and stayed on it. We probably had 25 minutes of really good hockey and 35 minutes of not so great.
"Victoria did a great job skating with us and controlling some of the play tonight. It was pretty stressful from the coaching perspective, as we saw so many good things and so many not so good things. Our guys are learning and still trying to find chemistry. It's hard to build consistency when you don't have lines staying together consistently. As long as we're learning when we're winning, I'm good with that."
On Isaac LaBelle's 46-save performance
"Isaac did a great job of giving us a chance to win tonight, and that's what you want from your goaltending. I thought he looked extremely comfortable, especially early in the first period where there were a few moments you could tell he was dialled in. The guys knew he had this tonight and that provided confidence to our group."
NOTABLE
- The Spartans have now outscored Victoria 22-5 over its last three games, winning their previous matchup against Victoria 9-1 on home ice (Oct. 18).
- After picking up two points in the win, TWU forward Evan Last's (Surrey, B.C.) 107 career points has him just one point back of Logan Proulx for 10th all-time in BCIHL history.
- TWU improves to 2-0 over Victoria this season.
NEXT UP
The Spartans are back in action in two weeks, taking on Simon Fraser Thursday Nov. 28 at the Aldergrove Credit Union Community Centre.
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.
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