LANGLEY, British Columbia – With both teams playing their third game in four days, after two weekend road games, the Trinity Western Spartans fell to the No. 9 Saskatchewan Huskies 4-1 Monday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to 2-22-1, while the Huskies improve to 18-6-1.
 
Second-year Raphael Audet (Rimouski, Que) made 37 saves in the Spartans' loss. Roddy Ross made 32 saves for Saskatchewan in the win.
 
Scoring the lone Spartans goal was second-year forward Mitchell Joss (Winnipeg, Man.). Vince Loschiavo, Landon Kosior, Carter Stebbings, and Chantz Petruic were the goal scorers for the Huskies.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans almost got on the board at 14:12 when third-year forward Jeremy Klessens' (Red Deer, Alta.) shot beat Saskatchewan's Ross but the puck was cleared away just before it crossed the Huskies' goal line. The Huskies opened the scoring at 14:50 when Vince Loschiavo scored his 13^th of the season on the Saskatchewan power play. Saskatchewan quickly made it a 2-0 lead when Landon Kosior scored, his fourth of the season, with the Huskie's Ross pulled for the extra attacker on the delayed Trinity Western interference penalty at 15:55. After not getting a shot on goal in the first five minutes the Huskies ended the first period with a 2-0 lead while outshooting the Spartans 12-10.
 
The Huskies Carter Stebbings scored his 11^th of the season to put Saskatchewan up 3-0 with a power play goal at 4:03 of the second period. Saskatchewan had the majority of the play and ended the period with a 14-8 edge in shots on goal.
 
The Spartans got on the board at 13:17 of the third period. TWU's Joss took a hard shot from the left point that Ross was unable to handle to make the score 3-1 for the Huskies. Saskatchewan's Chantz Petruic made the final 4-1 for the Huskies with an empty net goal at 19:40 of the third period. The Spartans had their best period of the afternoon outshooting the Huskies 15-14.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Walter
"I thought that our start to the game was great. We rebounded and really pushed in the third and gave them a lot. It is something to be said when you get a team like that to take a time-out in the halfway through the third period so that they can change after an icing. It is things like that, that we continue to look to that we can build on."
 
On playing the six games in nine days
"The situation is tough with these games and I told the guys that if anything this experience over the last 10 days has taught them what it will be like and will help prepare them for their future if they get to the pro level. You have to be able to play and bring your "A" game even when you aren't feeling 100 percent. I think that it was good to see it and it was good to see the effort level by all our players today and we can definitely build on it. And we have a game again tomorrow at 9 a.m. It is very different than usual. So it is going to show a lot of our character. Can we bring that effort again tomorrow morning?"

NOTABLE

• The Huskies outshot the Spartans 40-33.
• The Spartans finished the night 0-2 on the power play, while the Huskies finished 1-2. Saskatchewan also had a goal with an extra attacker due to a delayed penalty.
• This week's Monday and Tuesday games are make-up games for the January 12-13 games that were postponed.
• Last October the Spartans fell 5-0 both nights to the Huskies in Saskatoon, Sask.
• The Spartans are 0-9 lifetime against the Huskies.
• This past weekend the Huskies split with the Mount Royal Huskies in Calgary, Alta. Losing 3-2 on Friday and winning 4-3 on Saturday.
• This past weekend the Spartans dropped two games to the Regina Cougars. Losing 8-0 and 4-1 in Regina, Sask.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will finish off the home-and-home series tomorrow, Tuesday, February 6, at 9 a.m. 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-