LANGLEY, British Columbia– The UBC Thunderbirds scored three unanswered third-period goals to defeat the Trinity Western Spartans 6-3 in a midweek game Thursday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to 2-14-0-1, while the win improves the No. 3 Thunderbirds to 11-5-0-1.
 
UBC led 2-0 after the opening period and 3-0 early in the second period. But TWU rallied with three straight goals to tie the game 3-3 going into the final period.
 
Scoring for the Spartans were second-year forward Christian Lowe (Port Moody, B.C.), first-year forward Connor Farren (Cloverdale, B.C.), and fourth-year Luke Spadafora (Calgary, Alta.).
 
Scoring for the Thunderbirds were Sasha Mutala (3), Sam Huo (2), and Jack Wismer.
 
Second-year goalie Leon Sommer (Linz, Aust.) made 37 saves in the TWU loss, while Brett Mirwald made 16 saves in the Thunderbirds win.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will finish the series tomorrow at 7 p.m. (PT) at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The game can be seen live on Canada West TV.
 
QUOTABLE
Trinity Western Head Coach Ben Walter
"I really liked our resilience again. The effort was there for the most part. I loved that 10 minutes in the second period. That's the best I've seen our group play, and it was against a really good team. Just proves that we can go and do it, which is pretty cool. But, you look at UBC in the way they came out in the third period. We haven't had that yet. Maybe it's something that we have to learn and our guys have to look at what other teams, the good teams do. And the way that good players play when the game's on the line play. We have to learn how to do it ourselves because we just don't have it yet."
 
On heading into the final game of the semester.
"The last couple of weeks have been tough, we've had some injuries and, we are down to 10 forwards, and five or six D, so it's about let's keep pushing. And then today was hey, we got two days left. Two days and then we get a really good break to rest and recover and then we'll get some guys back. So tomorrow is one day, and the expectation is, hey, no one feels sorry for us that we're down bodies or that we're hurt or anything like that. So just find a way to push for one more day and I know that we will. We have some good character guys. that will really push and pull the rest of them along with them, but there's really nothing to save it for. Absolutely nothing after tomorrow, so I expect that we'll be ready to go."
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Thunderbirds' Mutala opened the scoring when he found the open net off a rebound from a deflected shot by Jake Wright to give UBC a 1-0 lead at 13:05 of the opening period.  Mutala got his second of the night, and sixth of the season, at 17:08 when he converted a cross-ice pass from Ty Thorpe to put the Thunderbirds up 2-0. The Spartans went on the power play with 1:20 remaining in the opening period but could not find the back of the UBC net as the Thunderbirds finished the first 20 minutes with a 2-0 lead and a 17-4 edge in shots.
 
UBC's Huo gave the Thunderbirds a quick start to the second period when he scored his ninth of the season to make it a 3-0 lead 2:09 into the period. The Spartans responded quickly with Lowe getting his eighth of the season at 4:31 when he put a loose put into the top corner to make it a 3-1 UBC lead. Under a minute and a half later TWU's Farren got his third of the season to make it a 3-2 UBC lead at 5:56 on a perfect pass from Lowe. Spadafora got his night of the season to tie the game up on a pretty passing play with fourth-year forward Michael Spafford (Saskatoon, Sask.) at 18:38 to make it a 3-3 game heading into the second intermission. UBC had a 17-12 edge in second-period shots.
 
UBC regained the lead when Jacob Wright found Mutala, for his third of the night, open in front of the net to make it 4-3 Thunderbirds one minute into the third period.  Huo got UBC a two-goal lead with his second of the night when he weaved his way through the Spartans' defence to find the top corner and give UBC a 5-3 lead at 5:48 of the final period. UBC's Wismer got the empty net goal with 1:06 remaining in the game to make it 6-3 for the Thunderbirds. UBC had a 12-6 edge in shots in the final period.
 
NOTABLE 

• The Thunderbirds outshot the Spartans 43-19.
• TWU went 1-3 on the power play, while UBC finished 0-2.
• Three Stars: UBC Sasha Mutala, Sam Huo, TWU: Christian Lowe.
• Last weekend the Spartans were swept by the Calgary Dinos 7-0, and 3-2 on the road at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary, Alta.
• Last weekend the Thunderbirds swept the Manitoba Bisons 7-2, and 7-5 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, B.C.
• TWU is currently 0-25 lifetime against UBC. Early this season the Spartans lost 5-2, and 7-1 in their two games in October.

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.
 
About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in U SPORTS. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
 
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