CALGARY, Alberta – With a 6-3 decision on Saturday afternoon against the Trinity Western Spartans, the Calgary Dinos claimed their 27th consecutive regular-season win, surpassing the previous U SPORTS benchmark set by the University of New Brunswick during the 2009-10 season. The Dinos are now 4-0 on the season, while the Spartans fall to 0-2 in their first weekend of competition.
 
TWU third-year goalie Berk Berkeliev (Calgary, Alta.) made 48 saves in the shootout loss, while Calgary's Carl Stankowski made 15 saves to earn the win.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
After being shut out on Friday night, it was Trinity Western who opened the scoring Saturday as Aidan Steinke (St. Albert, Alta.) set up Jeremy Klessens (Red Deer, Alta.) with plenty of time and space to wrist a shot past Carl Stankowski for an early lead.
 
A power play goal by Colson Gengenbach tied the game with five minutes remaining in the opening period, but the Spartans responded quickly on a goal by Jake Jurgeneit (Toronto, Ont.) to take a one-goal lead into the first intermission.
 
Berkeliev and the Spartans did well to keep the Dinos offence at bay despite plenty of scoring opportunities. The Trinity Western goaltender finished the night with 48 saves.
 
The Dinos took their first lead of the game six minutes into the second period on back-to-back goals 11 seconds apart by rookies. First, it was Jake Poole going shortside on Berkeliev, followed by Brendan Lee releasing a wicked wrist shot.
 
With 20 minutes separating them from breaking the national record, the Dinos took a two-goal lead halfway through the third on a tally by Mack Stewart.
 
The teams traded goals from Gengenbach and Mitchell Joss (Winnipeg, Man.) in the final stages of regulation before Gengenbach completed the hat trick with an empty net marker.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Walter
"Obviously not the result that we were looking for. There were some good things that we can take out of this weekend for sure, but there is still a lot that we have to work on.Credit to Calgary they played a complete game. They pressured us every chance that they got and had themselves a good weekend. Definitely lots we can work on, but definitely we are looking forward to next weekend against Regina. Looking forward to a great week of practice and being ready for our home opener on Friday."
 
Bright spots
"It was nice to see Jake get his first U SPORTS goal. And it was good to see Mitchell get his first of the season as well."
 
NOTABLE

• Calgary outshot the Trinity Western 54-18.
• The Spartans finished 1-3 on the power play while the Dinos finished 4-3.
• The Spartans enter the 2023-24 Canada West season ranked 9th in the Canada West preseason coaches' poll.
• The Calgary Dinos enter the 2023-24 season ranked No. 1 in the CW preseason poll.
• The Spartans are 0-6 lifetime against the Dinos.

UP NEXT
The Spartans will now return home for their home openers against the Regina Cougars on October 13-14. Game time at the George Preston Arena on Friday is set for 7:15 p.m. and then 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre. Both games can be seen live on CanadaWest.TV.

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 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
 
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