LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans matched the No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds for the majority of Friday night's contest before falling 4-2 to the top-ranked Thunderbirds in Canada West action at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to 3-13-1-0 in Canada West play and fourth in the West Division, while the win improves the Thunderbirds to 14-1-1-1 and the top spot in the West Division.
 
Scoring for the Spartans was second-year forward Connor Farren (Cloverdale, B.C.) with two goals. Scoring for the Thunderbirds were James Form, Alex Serraglio, Scott Atkinson, and Sasha Mutala.
 
Trinity Western third-year goalie Leon Sommer (Linz, Austria) made 55 saves in the Spartans' loss. UBC's Brett Mirwald made 23 saves in the Thunderbirds' win.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Thunderbirds will finish off the first semester Canada West schedule tomorrow at 7 p.m. (PT) at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, B.C. The game can be seen live on Canada West TV.

QUOTABLE
Ben Walter, TWU Head Coach
"Tonight was a really good test for our team to see where we are at, and although we didn't get the result we wanted, I think we showed ourselves how far we have come as a group this season.  I liked the consistency of our game and the response that we had in the second period.  We put ourselves in a position to tie up the game late, and we just came up short, but overall, there were a lot of positives."

"Leon played great for us again, and I'm really happy for Connor scoring two goals.  He has been working very hard, so it's nice to see him get rewarded."

AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans and Thunderbirds were even through the first 10 minutes, with UBC holding a 4-3 edge in shots, but back-to-back TWU penalties gave UBC a five-on-three advantage. TWU's Sommer was able to keep the Thunderbirds off the scoresheet throughout the man advantage. But UBC's Form was able to finally get one past Sommer's at the 13:40 mark of the opening period. Form opened the scoring by deflecting Quinn Disher's shot from the right circle, making it 1-0 for the Thunderbirds. The period would end with UBC outshooting TWU 25-7 and leading 1-0 on the scoreboard.

The Thunderbirds got on the scoreboard early in the second period when Josh Williams found Serraglio open on the left dot to put the Thunderbirds up 2-0 thirty-nine seconds into the second period.  UBC then made it a three-goal lead when Atkinson scored on the power play at 2:36. Williams was again the set-up man when he found a trailing Atkinson in the slot to put UBC up 3-0. The Spartans' Farren got the Spartans on the scoresheet at 8:39. TWU third-year forward Mikhailo Simchuk (Kyiv, Ukraine) set up the goal by driving up the left side and sending a low shot to the far side of the crease, where Farren deflected the puck into the right side of the UBC net to make it a 3-1 game. Farren got his second of the night at 13:31. Simchuk was the playmaker again, then he went up the right side and found Farren on by the left. Farren found the open spot to bring the Spartans within one goal, trailing 3-2. UBC would end the period leading by the one goal, having outshot TWU 17-10 in the period.

The two teams were even for the majority of the third period, with neither team being able to find the back of the net. Then, with Sommer on the TWU bench, UBC's Mutala got the insurance goal at 18:54 to make the final 4-2 for the Thunderbirds.

NOTABLE

• The UBC outshot the Spartans 59-25.
• TWU was 0-2 on the power play, while UBC finished 1-4.
• The three stars were: UBC Scott Atkinson, TWU Leon Sommer, TWU Connor Farren.
• The Spartans are currently 1-34 lifetime against the UBC Thunderbirds. TWU is 0-3 against UBC this season in conference play.
• Last week, the Spartans swept the Alberta Golden Bears, winning 3-2 in a shootout and 7-3.
• Last week, the UBC Thunderbirds split with the Saskatchewan Huskies at Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon, Sask. UBC lost 3-2 on Friday, and then won 7-4 on Saturday night.
• Earlier this season, the Spartans lost 6-2 and 4-3 in the home-and-home series the second week of October.
• TWU's second-year forward Artem Hrabovetskyi (Kyiv, Ukraine) was named the Canada West Biosteel men's hockey player of the week after a five-point weekend in the Spartans' sweep of the Alberta Golden Bears.

 
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as in the NAIA in track and field and cross country and as an independent team in men's rugby and women's and men's disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 33 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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