LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans dropped a 5-2 decision to the visiting UBC Thunderbirds in a feisty pre-season contest Saturday night at the George Preston Recreation Centre in Langley, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to 2-2 in preseason play, while the win improves the Thunderbirds to 3-1.
Scoring for the Spartans first-year forward
Danylo Korzhyletskyi (Kyiv, Ukraine), and fourth-year centre
Jonathan Krahn (Chilliwack, B.C.). Scoring for the Thunderbirds were Jake Lee and Ty Thorpe with two goals each, and Chris Douglas.
TWU third-year goalie
Leon Sommer (Linz, Aust.) made 32 saves in the Spartans' loss, while UBC's Nicholas Jones made 23 saves in the Thunderbirds' win.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now take on the Simon Fraser Red Leafs club team in a preseason exhibition game on Thursday, September 25. Game time at the Burnaby Winter Club is set for 7 p.m. (PT).
QUOTABLE
Ben Walter,
TWU Head Coach
" I liked that at times when we played the way we can and the way we want to, we had success. I thought when we forechecked, and we were simple with our puck management, and we put it behind them, we were successful. What hurt us is they're an excellent transition team, so if we're turning pucks over in the neutral zone, we're going to have trouble."
On special teams play
"We have some work to do. Especially on the penalty kill, I think they're a team that always has a good power play. They've got guys that can shoot and score. But what I think we need to work on most is just the front of our net and cleaning up, getting guys out of Leon's way, and allowing him to see the puck, and then getting sticks and clearing rebounds."
NOTABLE
- UBC outshot TWU 37-25.
- The Spartans were 1-2 on the power play, while the Thunderbirds were 4-5.
- There were 23 penalties called for 112 minutes between the two teams.
- TWU is currently 1-31 lifetime against UBC.
- The Spartans lost 5-2 last weekend to the Thunderbirds in Vancouver, B.C.
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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