SASKATOON – Trinity Western fell 8-3 to Saskatchewan on Friday night's season-opener at Merlis Belsher Place.

First-year Mitchell Joss (Winnipeg) was joined by third-year transfers Daine Dubois (Williams Lake, B.C.) and Jesse Pomeroy (Prince George, B.C.) in scoring TWU's (0-1) markers for the night. For the Huskies (1-0), it was Evan Fiala who led the way, assisting three times for a game-high in points.

Berk Berkeliev (Calgary) stopped 23 of 30 shots he faced before Isaac LaBelle (Saskatoon) would relieve him, stopping nine of 10 shots in the process.
 
Tanner Hopps (North Delta, B.C.) led the Spartans with two points, assisting on the goals of Pomeroy and Dubois.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The first period of action would wrap up at a 1-1 scoreline. TWU's goal came on the power play as Pomeroy would reel in a feed from Travis Verveda (Alix, Alta.) to end the period at 1-1.
 
The Huskies would kick off the period with three unanswered goals. Joss would interrupt Saskatchewan's run with a goal of his own, but the Huskies would end the second period with another marker for a 4-1 advantage in the frame of play.
 
The Spartans were outscored 3-1 in the third period with Dubois scoring TWU's only goal of the frame.

QUOTABLE
Ben Walter – TWU Head Coach
"Obviously it was great to get going, and great to have the guys come together on the road for our first game of the year. Not the result we were looking for, but I thought there were some good things. We had spurts where we played the way we need to – we played with speed, got on the forecheck, we were good when we got the puck down low, and we made them defend us. Unfortunately they had their spurts too, they're a good team and they capitalized. The biggest thing for us moving forward is maintaining the pace we want to play at for 60 minutes, and giving ourselves a chance to win by playing the right way.

"They got eight on us, I don't blame our goalies at all. I thought Berk [Berkeliev] battled, then Isaac [LaBelle] came in and played admirably given the score.

"It's a new day for us tomorrow. We're going to wake up, be ready to play, and have a better overall effort."

UP NEXT
TWU rematches Saskatchewan (1-0) at the Merlis Belsher Place on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. CT.

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 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.

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