EDMONTON, Alberta – The Trinity Western Spartans outshot the MacEwan Griffins 30-11 on their way to a 5-3 win over the MacEwan Griffins Saturday afternoon at the Downtown Community Arena in Edmonton, Alta. The win improves the Spartans to 6-5-0-1, while the loss drops the Griffins a 2-10.
After trailing 3-1 heading into the third period the Spartans scored four unanswered goals to earn the two-goal victory.
TWU third-year goalie
Mabel Maltais (Edmonton, Alta.) made eight saves in the win, while MacEwan's Brianna Sank made 25 saves to earn the Griffins' loss.
Scoring for the Spartans were third-year forward
Brooklyn Anderson (Shellbrook, Sask.) with two goals, third-year forward
Kate Klassen (Chilliwack, B.C.), second-year forward
Kara Yackel (St. Paul, Man.), and third-year forward
Kyra McDonald (Inuik, N.T.) each with single goals. Ella Maternick, Jesse Jack, and Mila Verbicky were the goal scorers for the Griffins.
AS IT HAPPENED
MacEwan's Maternick opened the scoring at 17:24 of the opening period. Maternick got the puck in traffic between the circles and spun around and beat a screened Fawcett to put the Griffins up 1-0. The Spartans outshot the Griffins 8-5.
The Spartans Klassen tied the game at 6:36. Third-year forward
Kailey Ledoux (Saskatoon, Sask.) picked up a loose clearing attempt on the left boards and turned and found Klassen in front of the net. Klassen's shot was partially stopped by MacEwan's Sank, but the puck squeaked just inside the post to make it 1-1.
MacEwan's Jack took advantage of a TWU misplay behind the Spartan net to regain the one-goal lead, 2-1, at 6:55.
The Griffins Verbicky scored with 37 seconds remaining in the period to give the home team a 3-1 lead. Verbicky took advantage of a bouncing puck and a goal-mouth scramble to give MacEwan a two-goal lead after two periods. TWU outshot MacEwan 12-4 in the period.
Anderson got the second TWU goal of the afternoon when she weaved her way through MacEwan players from centre to go in alone and beat MacEwan's Sank to bring the Spartans to within on goal at 2:11 of the third period.
The Spartans' third goal came when Yackel found space on the far side of the crease to beat the Griffins Sank and tie the game at 3-3.
McDonald put the Spartans up at 16:25 with a goal off of a goal-mouth scramble, giving TWU a 4-3 lead.
Anderson cemented the win with an empty net goal, her second of the night, at 19:16 to make the final 5-3 for the Spartans.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Peter Hay
"After outshooting and outplaying MacEwan for the first two periods and being down 3-1 it felt like a repeat of yesterday. With a gut-check in the intermission, our team responded and showed their character by coming back and winning 5-3. Once again their goalie played outstanding as we peppered her all night. I am very happy for our team as they really deserved this game. Last night the bounces didn't go our way. Today they did in the third after staying strong in our process. Hockey can be a funny game that way. Big shout out to
Kyra McDonald who had her best game of the year and took a big step in the right direction. Also, Brooklynn Anderson continues to drive our team's goal-scoring and offence.
Kate Klassen skated well and created lots of chances all night.
Kara Yackel pushed hard in the third with a big goal and assist. All the defence played solid. We played great as a team in our structures and systems all weekend and we can go into the bye weekend next week proud of the first stage of the season being a win over .500 in a solid fifth position creeping on fourth in the conference."
NOTABLE
- TWU finished the night 0-5 with the extra skater, while MacEwan finished 1-3.
- Last week the Spartans split with the Manitoba Bisons losing 1-0 and winning 3-0 in Langley, B.C.
- Last week the Griffins lost to UBC 6-2, and 7-0 and home in Edmonton, Alta.
- The Spartans are 3-5 lifetime against the Griffins.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will have a week off and then resume play on November 24-25 when they will host the Mount Royal Cougars. Game times at the Langley Events Centre are set for 7 p.m. and 1 p.m. (PT). 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.
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