CALGARY – Trinity Western's men's hockey team lost for the second time in as many nights, falling 9-2 against Calgary Saturday afternoon.
The Spartans (1-13) hung with the Dinos (9-4-1) on the scoreboard through 40 minutes, trailing 3-2 going to the final frame, but Calgary poured in six goals in the last 20 minutes to secure a convincing win.
The Spartans
Jeremy Klessens (Red Deer, Alta.) scored both goals for TWU.
For the Dinos, Arjun Awal had a six-point night with a goal and five assists, while James Shearer and Max Patterson had two goals apiece. Bradley Schoonbaert, Josh Rieger, Noah King and Ryan Gagnon also tallied for the home team.
TWU goalie Isaac Labelle (Saskatoon) made 47 saves in the loss, while Calgary's Carl Stankowski earned his second victory of the weekend with a 14-save effort.
AS IT HAPPENED
Calgary opened the scoring just 3:03 into the first period, but Klessens responded at 7:53 with a shorthanded marker. Despite the Dinos outshooting TWU 20-4 through 20 minutes, the Spartans and Dinos were tied at the intermission.
Klessens put TWU ahead at 4:24 of the second period on the power play, with
Travis Verveda (Alix, Alta.) picking up the lone assist. However, at 10:59, Shearer equalized and less than five minutes later, Patterson put Calgary ahead for good.
Just 44 seconds into the final period, Shearer sparked the late-game barrage with an unassisted goal. From there it was Patterson, Gagnon, Schoonbaert, Rieger and Atwal potting third period goals.
NOTABLE
• TWU finished one for five on the power play, while Calgary was two for four with the man-advantage.
• The Dinos outshot TWU 57-16.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Barret Kropf
"It was pretty disappointing. We came out flying, it was a really good first period, then we jumped out to a lead in the second period. As the game went on we ran out of gas and left our goalie out to dry. Eight unanswered is disappointing. You look at last night's final 30 minutes combined with our start tonight as positives, but we lost confidence and composure on both ends of the ice. It is taking us a long time to keep learning this lesson over and over again.
"We need to get some guys healthy and figure out a way to compete better."
UP NEXT
TWU has a bye next weekend before returning to action Jan. 29-30 on the road against Manitoba.
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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