EDMONTON, Alberta – The Trinity Western Spartans matched the No. 6 Alberta Golden Bears for 45 minutes, but the Bears pulled away with three unanswered third-period goals to defeat the Spartans 5-1 Saturday night at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Alta. The win improves Alberta to 14-4-0-2, while the loss drops Trinity Western to 2-15-0-1.
 
TWU second-year goalie Raphael Audet (Rimouski, Que.) made 41 saves in the loss, while Alberta's Matt Berlin made 27 saves to record the win.
 
The Spartans' lone goal came from third-year defenceman Daine Dubois (Williams Lake, B.C.), his third. Tyler Preziuso scored twice, his fifth and sixth, with Jacob Kendall, his second, Alex Thacker, his fifth, and Justin Hall, his eighth, adding singles to provide the scoring for Alberta.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
Audet was the story of the first two periods, stopping all 13 shots he faced in the first frame and 16 of the 18 he faced in the second. Alberta continued to pepper the TWU goalie, with their 26th shot of the game finally beating Audet.
 
Kendall and Preziuso each scored in the final three minutes of the second to give the home side a 2-0 lead through 40.
 
Dubois cut into the Bears lead early in the third, beating Berlin on the powerplay, as his third of the season made it 2-1.
 
That would be as close as TWU would come, with Preziuso restoring the Bears' two-goal lead just four minutes later.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Walter
"I thought we had a much better effort overall tonight.  We played Alberta hard and were in the game right to the end.  The difference was that they capitalized on their chances at key times but this game is definitely one that we can build on." 
 
"Raph was great in net for us tonight.  Daine also had a very strong game overall.  Adam Oates and Jonathan Krahn were outstanding on the back end."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU went 1/5 on the power play, while Calgary went 1/7.
• The Spartans are 0-8 lifetime against the Golden Bears.
• On Friday night TWU lost 7-2 to Alberta in Edmonton, Alta.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now head home to take on the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday, January 12 and Saturday, January 13. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. (PT) puck-drop at the Langley, Events Centre and 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-