SASKATOON – Trinity Western's men's hockey team suffered a 6-5 loss in double-overtime against the University of Saskatchewan Saturday at Merlis Belsher Place. 

The Spartans (0-2) held a 5-1 lead early in the second period, but the Huskies (2-0) rallied with five unanswered goals, including the overtime winner off the stick of Jaxan Kaluski to steal a win from TWU.  

Michael Spafford (Saskatoon), Luke Spadafora (Calgary) and Josh Borynec (Parkland County, Alta.) each put up a goal and an assist for the Spartans, while Daine DuBois (Williams Lake, B.C.) and Kade McMillen (Carievale, Sask.) also scored for TWU. 

Jared Dmytriw tallied a hat trick for the Huskies, while Alec Zawatsky and Gunner Kinniburgh also joined in on the Saskatchewan scoring. 

Isaac Labelle (Saskatoon) made 50 saves for the Spartans, while Saskatchewan goalie Declan Hobbs earned the win after stopping 23 of the 24 shots he faced in the second and third periods. Jordan Kooy got the start but was replaced by Hobbs after allowing four goals on four first period shots. 

AS IT HAPPENED
TWU scored four goals in the first period to give the visiting Spartans a 4-1 lead through 20 minutes. The Spartans Borynec added to the lead 5:45 into the second period. 

However, from there, Saskatchewan responded. Dmytriw got the Huskies within three with a second period marker before Saskatchewan tallied three third period goals, including two in the final five minutes to set the stage for Kaluski to play hero.

QUOTABLE
Ben Walter – TWU Head Coach
"Obviously it was a tough way to end it, giving up the lead in the third period, but the biggest takeaway from it is that we showed that we can play with teams in this league and we can compete and we can outplay teams when we play the way we should. Our start was great. We came out flying. The guys were playing with energy and using our team speed, which is an asset for us. We just couldn't hold it together. Give them a lot of credit. They pushed in the third and they took it to us. For us, we need to learn how to play with a lead and how to close games out. But that will come. There's a lot of positivity for me with this group. I'm excited to keep working and see what we can do. Labelle played outstanding in net and held us in there as long as he could. I thought the line of Penner, Spafford and Spadafora gave us a lot of energy and scored some big goals. I thought we had contributions from everyone and I'm proud of the group as a whole. We'll get back to work on Monday as we prepare for our home-opener next weekend."

NOTABLE
•    TWU is 0-4 all-time against Saskatchewan.
•    Tonight's loss was the closest margin of defeat against the Huskies, with each of TWU's previous three losses against Saskatchewan coming by five or more goals (8-3 on Sept. 30, 2022, 9-3 on Nov. 13, 2021 and 6-0 on Nov. 12, 2021). 

UP NEXT 
TWU returns to Langley for its home-opening weekend against Mount Royal Oct. 7-8. Both games are at the George Preston Arena, with puck drop at 7:15 p.m.

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, as well as women's and men's disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 31 Canada West team championships.

-TW-