LANGLEY, B.C. – The Trinity Western men's hockey team lost 5-2 on the road against Calgary, in the Spartans return to Canada West action Friday at Father David Bauer Arena. 

The Spartans (1-12) scored a pair of third-period goals, with Travis Verveda (Alix, Alta.) and Jorden Bogress (Ladner, B.C.) finding the back of the net, but it wasn't enough to rally after Calgary (8-4-1) had staked itself to a five-goal third period lead.

Kaden Elder scored twice for Calgary, while Ryan Gagnon, Connor Gutenberg and James Shearer also scored for the home side. 

Kylor Wall (Edmonton), Brayden Brown (Calgary), Adam Nobes (North Vancouver, B.C.), Jamieson Ree (Surrey, B.C.) picked up helpers for TWU.

The Dinos scored each of their first four goals of the night on the power play, going four for six with the man-advantage. The Spartans were one for eight on the power play.

TWU goalie Talor Joseph (Sherwood Park, Alta.) made 45 saves, while Carl Stankowski stopped nine of the 11 shots he face.

AS IT HAPPENED 
Despite Calgary outshooting TWU 22-3 in the first period, TWU's Joseph kept the Dinos off the board until late in the frame when Elder broke through with 1:37 to go. 

Capitalizing on all three of their second period power-plays, including two double-minors, the Dinos tallied three times to extend their lead to four goals heading to the third period. Elder doubled Calgary's lead at 4:19 of the period, with Vanstone and Gutenberg rounding out the Dinos second period scoring. 

Calgary pushed its lead to five with a goal from Shearer before the Spartans potted two goals inside the final 10 minutes of the game, with Verveda tallying at 10:48 on the power play and Bogress scoring with 2:10 to go in the contest. 

NOTABLE 
•    The Dinos have taken a split in every weekend except against MacEwan, when the Dinos beat the Griffins in back-to-back games.
•    The contest marked the first-ever meeting between Calgary and TWU in men's hockey. 

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Barret Kropf
"New year, same old tricks in terms of not playing a full 60 minutes. We realized that we could make some plays in the third period, getting out of our zone, playing with attack and purpose. We were on our heels for the first 40 minutes. We were on our heels and lacked intensity while Calgary took it to us on the big ice. They were a much more disciplined team but we can build on our last 20 minutes of tonight's game."

UP NEXT 
The rematch is Saturday at 2 p.m. (MT) back at the Father David Bauer Arena. 

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.

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