LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western first-year forward Josh Bruce (Surrey, B.C.) had a hat-trick, but it wasn't quite enough as the Spartans lost 5-3 to Simon Fraser in exhibition action Saturday at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre.

Bruce opened the scoring in the first period and then tallied two in the third period to spark a comeback bid, but the Spartans never got back on even terms after trailing by three goals through 40 minutes. An empty-netter from the Clan late in the third period snuffed out the Spartans rally.

TWU's Brandon Potomak (Aldergrove, B.C.) and Kade Vilio (Aldergrove) had two assists apiece, while Travis Verveda (Alix, Alta.) and Dustin Deugau (Calgary) each added a single helper.

SFU's Christian Bosa, Ty Westgard, Jake Keremidschieff, Jordan Dawson and Arjun Badh scored for the Clan.

After TWU went up 1-0, the Clan responded with four straight goals, including three in the span of 1:45 early in the second period.

TWU was one for four with the man-advantage while SFU was unsuccessful on all four of its powerplay opportunities.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Barret Kropf
"Going into this offseason, we saw that SFU was in a major rebuild and they did a fantastic job of bringing a lot of high-end junior players and that's a new lineup over there and they're going to be a squad to contend with. There is lots of firepower there and they're very opportunistic. I just think SFU's speed and their puck movement was quite good for a first game for them and they controlled a lot of the pace tonight.

"We'll get back to the drawing board and look at some film and pick up some of our defensive zone collapses and go from there. Josh Bruce has been a great addition to our lineup, but we need to get some of our other guys going as well."

UP NEXT
The Spartans are on the road next weekend for a pair of exhibition contests against Portage College in Lac La Biche, Alta. (Sept. 27) and against SAIT in Castlegar, B.C. (Sept. 28).

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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