CALGARY– Kate Klassen (Chilliwack, B.C.) played the hero as she scored the game-winner in overtime to give the Trinity Western Spartans a 2-1 win over the Mount Royal Cougars Saturday night in Calgary. The victory, the fist-ever playoff win for the Spartans, forces game three of the best-of-three series with the Cougars.
 
TWU's Kate Fawcett (Tottenham, Ont.) made 29 saves to earn her first play-off win, while MRU's Kaitlyn Ross made 21 saves in the loss.
 
Amy Potomak (Aldergrove, B.C.) scored the other goal for the Spartans, while Aliya Jomha scored the lone goal for the Cougars.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The opening period was fast-paced and evenly matched as the two teams ended the opening 20 minutes tied at 0-0, with TWU holding a 7-4 edge in shots. The Cougars were 0/2 on the power play, while the Spartans were 0/1.
 
The second period had MRU control the play early, keeping TWU pinned in their own end. The Cougars were rewarded at 4:49 when Aliya Jomha deflected a screened shot past the Spartans Fawcett to put MRU up 1-0.  The Spartans Amy Potomak scored TWU's first ever play-off goal on the power play at 19:38. Potomak evened the score at 1-1 when her hard slap-shot from the point found the top of the Cougars' net. The two teams ended the period tied at 1-1, with MRU holding a 19-8 edge in shots in the period. The Spartans were 1/2 on the power play, while the Cougars were 0/1
 
The third period was back-and-forth, with MRU's Ross stopping a couple of TWU break-aways to keep the period scoreless and the game tied at 1-1.TWU finished the period with an 8-3 edge in shots.
 
The overtime started with the Spartans being called for two penalties at :47 and :58 giving the Cougars a 1:49 two-player advantage. TWU's PK once again rose to the occasion and killed off both penalties. The game ended shortly after when Klassen was sent in alone on the breakaway to score the game winner at 3:25 of the overtime period.

QUOTABLE
Jean Laforest – TWU Head Coach
"We changed our lines tonight and were more focused, which I think was a big factor in us starting better. Five on five I think we are a good hockey team. But, when we start getting penalties it hurts us, we can kill penalties, we have been doing it all weekend long, but that's not the situation that we want to find ourselves in. But for whatever reason, we find ourselves there. So in terms of discipline, we have stepped that up, but in the overtime all of a sudden we get two calls. There wasn't any panic, as again we have done it before. But I just think that five on five we are a team that can compete with any team in the league."
 
On first playoff win.
"It is awesome. The girls deserve all the accolades. We made the changes, but they are the ones that executed the game plan. They deserve every credit for this win. This conference has a lot of parody from top to bottom. I think for a second year program we have shown that we are definitely a team that can compete"
 
On Kate Klassen:
"Kate could have been the donkey or the hero. We talked about the penalty she took in overtime and I said to her that that could have gone one of two ways. Obviously, she is the hero, so we are very happy that that is the scenario that unfolded."
 
Kate Klassen TWU player of the game
"We made a whole team effort out there. The goal wouldn't have been possible without an amazing PK. We gutted out that 5-on-3 and that's really what created the chance to keep this season going. I'm really proud of our team.
 
"Our mindset going into tomorrow is to just be confident in ourselves. We need to work hard and we can do anything we set our mind to. I think we just need to have confidence in each other and play hard together.
 
"We know that when we have quicker starts, we can have more success and use our speed and our power from the get-go. I think in the second period today, we played well defensively and blocked a lot of shots and kept our energy going. The biggest thing for us is moving past our mistakes. When we can forget about those mistakes quickly, we can move past it and do anything we want to accomplish."

NOTABLE
• The Spartans are now 1-9 lifetime against the Cougars. TWU was 0-4 vs MRU this season.
• Friday night the Spartans lost 1-0 to the Cougars in the opening game of the best-of-three series.
• TWU finished the night with 23 shots on goal, while MRU finished with 30.
• The Spartans finished the night 1/3 on the power play, while the Cougars finished 0/5.
• This is TWU's women's hockey program's second season as members of Canada West.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Cougars will play the final game of the best-of-three series tomorrow night at 7 p.m. M.T. The winner will advance to play the UBC Thunderbirds next weekend in Vancouver. 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 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
 
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