CALGARY, Alta. – After a disappointing Friday night loss the Trinity Western Spartans came back strong to earn a road point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Mount Royal Cougars Saturday night at the Flames Community Arena in Calgary, Alta. The Spartans' record moves to 2-11-0-1 in Canada West, while the win improves the Cougars to 11-5-0.
 
TWU first-year goalie Leon Sommer (Linz, Aust.) made 41 saves in the shoot-out loss, while MRU's Shane Farkas made 27 saves to earn the shoot-out victory.  
Fourth-year forward Daine Dubois (Williams Lake, B.C.), second-year forward Mitchell Joss (Winnipeg, Man.) and fourth-year Tanner Hopps (North Delta, B.C.), each scored for the Spartans. Connor Bouchard, Jaden Senkoe, and Blake Stevenson scored for the Cougars, with Bouchard scoring the shootout winner for MRU.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
MRU opened the scoring as Connor Bouchard earned a penalty shot after being tripped on a breakaway and seized the opportunity, scoring the game's opening goal.
 
In the final minutes of the period, MRU's Kyle Walker was penalized for tripping, giving TWU a power play opportunity. TWU capitalized on this advantage, with Daine Dubois netting a goal in the last minute, tying the score 1 – 1.
 
Just over a minute into the second period, the Cougars took the lead as Jaden Senkoe scored, assisted by Kyle Walker.
 
Three minutes before the midway point of the third period, Mitchell Joss of TWU netted the equalizer, assisted by Mikol Sartor, bringing the score to 2 – 2.
 
With nine minutes remaining in the game, the Spartans Tanner Hopps extended their lead to 3 – 2. He received assistance from Daine Dubois and Jeremy Klessens. 
 
With just ninety seconds remaining in the period, MRU's Blake Stevenson scored, leveling the game at 3 – 3 and extending the game into overtime. He received assists from Robbie Holmes and Jaden Senkoe.
 
After a scoreless five-minute overtime, the game proceeded to a shootout. 
 
TWU's Michael Spafford was the first shooter but was unable to get past MRU's Shane Farkas. 
 
MRU's Connor Bouchard followed and successfully scored against Leon Sommers, securing the lead for his team. 
 
TWU's Tanner Hopps was the subsequent shooter, but Farkas denied any goal attempts.
 
Finally, MRU's Connor Blake secured the winning goal, giving the Cougars their last home game win of 2023
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Walter
"I'm very proud of our team and the effort they put out there today.  If we can continue to play this way consistently we will start to see more success as a group.  The game could have gone either way, and our players battled right to the end." 
 
Spartan standouts
"Leon Sommer was fantastic in net, he made some big saves and gave us a chance to win.  And we had great games out of Tanner Hopps and Daine DuBois as well."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU finished the night 1/4 on the power play, while MRU finished 0/2.
• The Cougars outshot the Spartans 45-30 on the night.
• The Spartans are 1-6-0-1 lifetime against the Cougars.
• The lone TWU win came in their last meeting when TWU defeated MRU 4-3 in overtime on December 3, 2022, in Calgary.

UP NEXT
The Spartans will now return home for the final games of the first semester against the Calgary Dinos on December 1 at 7 p.m. and December 2 at 1 p.m. Friday's game is at the Aldergrove Credit Union Community Centre, and Saturday's game is 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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