LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans battled back, but a late goal by the MacEwan Griffins handed the Spartans a 4-3 loss Saturday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to 2-10, while the win improves the Griffins to 4-7-0-1.
First-year goalie
Leon Sommer (Linz, Aust.) had 27 saves in the Spartans' loss, while Ashton Abel stopped 30 for the Griffins to earn the win.
Scoring for the Spartans were second-year forward
Mikol Sartor (Winnipeg, Man.), with two goals, and second-year forward
Mitchell Joss (Winnipeg, Man.). Loeden Schaufler, Ethan Strang, Kadyn Chabot, and Sean Comrie.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Griffins wasted no time taking the lead. MacEwan's 13 took a pass from 18 and slid to the middle of the ice where he sent a screened shot low to the right of the Spartans' net to put MacEwan up 1-0 at 1:02 with the power play goal.
The Griffins made it a two-goal lead at 6:13 MacEwan's Brendan Boyle won the draw at the left dot to Kadyn Chabot who made a touch pass to Ethan Strang who's shot through traffic beat Sommer.
The Spartans 18 got one back for TWU at 10:17. TWU's 26 set up the goal with a wrap-around attempt. His shot got through MacEwan's Abel, but sat in the blue paint between his pads. Sartor who was near the far post spotted the loose puck and turned and put it into the net to make it 2-1 for the Griffins. The score remained 2-1 at the end of the first 20 minutes, with MacEwan holding a 9-8 edge in shots on goal.
The Spartans had a solid second period and opened the scoring on the power play 4:15 into the period. Joss skated up the middle and found fourth-year
Tanner Hopps (North Delta, B.C.) up the right side. Hopps shot the pass towards the net where Joss skated in and redirected the puck past Abel to the game at 2-2 with the power play goal.
MacEwan's Chabot put the Griffins back up with a pin-point shot with one minute remaining in the period. TWU outshot MacEwan 15-8.
Sartor got his second of the night at 8:17 of the third period. Sartor brought the puck into the Griffins zone and dropped the puck to Joss. Sartor skated to the far post where Joss found him and he was able to redirect the puck into the MacEwan net to tie the game at 3-3.
The Griffins Sean Comrie got the game-winner at 12:51 when his shot through traffic beat Sommer.
The Spartans pulled the goalie in the final minute but were unable to get the equalizer.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Walter
"Unfortunately, we didn't have a great start again, same as last night. And that was something that we had been able to count on, our good starts. So that is something that we need to fix moving forward. For me in my second year, we are starting to see progress. We are forming an identity as a group and that is nice to see. It's just hard to realize right now in the moment when you lose a game like that."
"I liked our push we competed and we had some really good segments of the game where I thought we dominated the game and played the way that we can. In the third period, they got up one and we pushed hard, especially at the end with our goalie pulled. We had chances, and their goalie made some big saves, but that's hockey sometimes."
"Leon has given us everything that we can ask for. Our job on defence is to let the goalie see the shot or block it. I thought the fourth goal we need to do a better job of getting in front of the shots. That can't get through."
NOTABLE
- The Spartans outshot the Griffins 33-31.
- Both teams finished the afternoon 1/4 on the power play.
- The Spartans are 2-6 lifetime against the Griffins.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will have a week off and then resume play on November 24-25 when they will be in Calgary against the Mount Royal Cougars. Game times are set for 7 p.m. and 5 p.m. (MT). The 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.
-TW-
