LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans earned three points on the weekend after a 4-3 (2-0) shootout loss to the Calgary Dinos Saturday afternoon and the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. TWU finishes their opening weekend at 1-0-1, while Calgary finishes at 1-1-0.
TWU third-year goalie
Mabel Maltais (Edmonton, Alta.) made 33 saves in the shootout loss, while Calgary's Amelia Awad made 10 saves in the first two periods, while her teammate Gabriella Durante made 20 saves to earn the win.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Dinos Courtney Kollman opened the scoring at 4:15 of the opening period to put Calgary up 1-0, but Spartans responded soon after when third-year forward
Kate Klassen (Chilliwack, B.C.) tied the game up at 8:04.
Calgary regained the lead early in the second with the Dinos Dana Wood scoring at 3:49 of the second period. From the midway point of the period TWU took control with rookie blueliner
Kasey Ditner (Fort St. John, B.C.) scoring a short-handed goal at 11:05 to tie the game at 2-2. TWU took the lead at 17:35 when second-year forward
Olivia Leier (Regina, Sask.) found the back of the net to put the Spartans up 3-2 heading into the final period.
The Dinos special teams came up big with less than five minutes remaining Calgary's Elizabeth Lang and Kyla Mitenko got a two-on-one short-handed opportunity. The Dinos Mitenko found the open net to tie the game at 3-3 and force overtime.
After a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shoot-out with Calgary winning 2-0.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Peter Hay
"Calgary is a good hockey club, and they definitely capitalize on chances. I really like where our process is right now as a team. We are growing every day and getting better and every player is valued and part of the success."
"Three of four points on a weekend is considered a success, even though we would have liked to have had that fourth point. But the shootout defined that this weekend, which showed how tight this league is and that you have to take advantage of every opportunity to score. Because five on five we had so many chances that we didn't bury, but as the season goes on we will hope to be able to do that."
"I thought that we played very fast and stuck to our game plan and the team really bought into it and every line contributed in their own way. Today was a little more special teams than we would like. The penalty kill in the second period drained our team and our energy a little bit and gave them momentum. So we need to clean up our penalties and the timing of those. And it also hurt our power play as the timing in those wasn't great either and it prevented us from getting full power plays."
"So I would say we didn't win the special teams game and we need to get better there, be more disciplined but at the same time capitalize on our power play opportunities. Which could have changed the game tonight. But I thought that five on five we were very strong. We competed hard we skated hard and we played and executed the right systems."
NOTABLE
- Calgary outshot the Trinity Western 37-31.
- The Spartans finished 0-3 on the power play while the Dinos finished 0-5.
- The Spartans enter the 2023-24 Canada West season ranked 7th in the Canada West preseason coaches' poll.
- The Calgary Dinos enter the 2023-24 season ranked 5th in the CW preseason poll.
- The Spartans are 2-4-1 lifetime against the Dinos.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now head on the road for week three of the Canada West season. TWU will head out on the road to Regina to face the Regina Cougars on October 13-14. Game times at the U of Regina are set for 7 p.m. and 5 p.m. and 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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