VANCOUVER, B.C. – Trinity Western played their season-opening game on Friday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, losing 5-1 to UBC as Kolby Johnson (Kerrobert, Sask.) potted TWU's first goal in U SPORTS history.
 
The Spartans (0-1) played in front on a loud, and excited crowd of 1700 on UBC's (1-0) home ice.

TWU's Luke Spadafora (Calgary) had a chance to put the Spartans up early as the first-year was awarded a penalty shot seven minutes into the game. UBC goaltender Rylan Toth turned away Spadafora's chance, leaving the game drawn at 0-0 for the time being. Soon after Spadafora's golden opportunity, UBC struck nearly as their team captain, Tyler Sandhu, was able to get the opposing crowd off their seats for the team's first goal of the season.
 
Johnson and the Spartans struck in the second period, marking a major historical moment for TWU in their inaugural U SPORTS season.

The opposing Thunderbirds continued to pour it on throughout the remainder of the game as they scored four unanswered to bring the game to a 5-1 close.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Trinity Western Spartans (@twuspartans)

NOTABLE

• The Spartans struggled to convert on the power play, going 0-5 on the night. UBC's third goal, scored by Kyle McNabb, came on the power play as the opposition was able to convert once in as many chances.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans are back at the Doug Mitchell Sports Centre to play UBC on Saturday at 3 p.m (PT).

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.

-TW-