LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans were unable to extend their winning streak to three games as they fell 5-3 to the visiting MacEwan Griffins Friday night at the George Preston Recreation Centre in Langley, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to 2-9, while the win improves the Griffins to 3-7-0-1.
First-year goalie
Leon Sommer (Linz, Aust.) had 24 saves in the Spartans' loss, while Ashton Abel stopped 21 for the Griffins to earn the win.
Fourth-year forward
Daine Dubois (Williams Lake, B.C.), second-year forward
Mikol Sartor (Winnipeg, Man.), and third-year forward
Luke Spadafora (Calgary, Alta.) were the goal scores for the Spartans, while Loeden Schaufler, Sam Simard, Sean Comrie, Kadyan Chabot, and Kole Gable lite the light for the Griffins.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Griffins jumped out early on the Spartans with Schaufler scoring at 1:30 and Simard at 6:50 of the opening period. TWU's Dubois would score at 9:41 to cut the MacEwan lead in half as the Griffins led 2-1 after 20 minutes of play.
The Spartans Sartor tied the game 2-2 with a power play goal at 3:20 of the second period. But the Griffins responded quickly with Comrie scoring 25 seconds later to put MacEwan back up, 3-2. Chabot got the eventual game-winner on a power play goal at 7:41 to put the Griffins up 4-2.
After a scoring spree over the first 25 minutes, neither team could find the back of the net for the next 27 minutes. TWU's Spadafora got the Spartans back to within one with a goal at 14:57 of the third period. But the Griffins put the game away at 19:17 when Gable scored a power-play empty net goal to make the final 5-3 for the Griffins.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Walter
"I liked a lot of our game tonight. We had good energy and pushed hard and showed a lot of heart in the third period when we were trying to tie it up."
"Unfortunately, we were too loose defensively at times and gave MacEwan too much room in the second period which they capitalized on."
"We will be ready to go tomorrow and will look to play the right way for a full 60 minutes."
"I thought that
Christian Lowe (first-year, Port Moody, B.C.) was great tonight, he played with a ton of speed and created a lot offensively for us.
Tanner Hopps (fourth-year, North Delta, B.C.) was another bright spot offensively for us."
NOTABLE
- The Griffins outshot the Spartans 29-24.
- TWU finished the night going 1/4 on the power play, while MacEwan finished the night 2/6.
- Last week the Spartans swept the Manitoba Bisons 3-2, and 5-2 in Winnipeg, Man.
- The weekend sweep was TWU's first in program history.
- Last week the Griffins lost to UBC 5-2, and 7-2 and home in Edmonton, Alta.
- The Spartans are 2-5 lifetime against the Griffins.
UP NEXT
The two teams will match up again tomorrow at the Langley Events Centre for a 1 p.m. (PT) puck drop. The game 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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