LANGLEY, B.C. – Reilley Kellner (Langley) scored what would stand as the game-winning early in the second period, as Trinity Western earned a 2-1 win over MacEwan Friday at the George Preston Arena.
Playing at home for the first time in nearly seven weeks, the Spartans (10-10-3) found their way back into the win column thanks also to a first period goal from
Amy Potomak (Aldergrove, B.C.) and a 29-save performance from goaltender
Kate Fawcett (Tottenham, Ont.).
MacEwan (5-15-1) saw their lone marker come off the stick of Shyla Kirwer. Griffins goalie Brianna Sank stopped 23 of the 25 shots she faced.
AS IT HAPPENED
Potomak opened the scoring late in the first period when she banged home a puck that ricocheted off the back wall, putting it past a scrambling Kirwer.
Chelsea Debusschere (Lloydminster, Alta.) picked up the assist.
Early in the second period, Kellner doubled the Spartans lead, taking a nifty feed from
Katherine Chadwick (Kanata, Ont.) in the slot before rifling it home.
Ashlee Wolfe (Holbein, Sask.) sparked the play from the corner, picking up the second assist.
Kirwer brought the visitors back within two goals at 10:54 of the middle frame.
Shortly thereafter, the Spartans had to kill off a double-minor, but a perfect penalty kill on the night held the Griffins off the scoreboard.
After outshooting the Spartans 15-9 in the second period, the Griffins had a 6-4 edge in shots in the third period, but were unable to solve Fawcett again.
QUOTABLE
Jean Laforest – TWU Head Coach
"It wasn't a great game for us. We turned the puck over far too many times. We weren't disciplined as far as puck management. But at the end of the day, it's a win. It wasn't pretty and, realistically, we lost some much nicer games, but I'll give credit where credit is due. Reilly scored the game-winning goal, which is huge for us and I was really happy she scored. There's that old western movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – we had a lot of ugly and we didn't have a whole lot of good tonight. I think tomorrow, we'll see a different situation.
"We talked about puck management and those are things we can fix. We'll take the win, but we also don't want to limp into the playoffs down the stretch. Tomorrow, we have to be much better and play Spartan hockey."
NOTABLE
· The win snaps a six-game Spartans losing streak.
· The Spartans are now 2-3 all-time against MacEwan.
· The win was the Spartans first-ever victory over the Griffins on home-ice, having lost both meetings in Langley against MacEwan in 2021-22.
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Griffins play the rematch Saturday at 2 p.m. (PT) at the Langley Events Centre.
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 32 Canada West team championships.
-TW-
