EDMONTON, Alberta – The Trinity Western Spartans had a tough start to open the spring semester, falling 7-4 to the MacEwan Griffins at the Downtown Community Arena in Edmonton, Alta. The loss drops the Spartans to 3-15-1-0 in Canada West conference play, while the win improves the Griffins to 8-8-1-2.
 
Scoring for the Spartans were third-year forward Christian Lowe (Port Moody, B.C.) with his seventh and eighth of the season, Second-year defence Ricards Landmanis (Ventspils, Latvia) with his first of the season, and rookie forward Aiden Knutson (Red Deer, Alta.) with his second of the season.
 
Scoring for the Griffins were Carter Chorney with his fourth of the season, Vincent Scott with his fifth of the season, Kadyn Chabot with his 13 of the season, Ethan Sundar with his fifth of the season, Dwayne Jean Jr. with his sixth of the season, Sam Simard with his fourth of the season, and Logan Dowhaniuk with his fourth of the season.
 
Trinity Western third-year goalie Leon Sommer (Linz, Austria) and fourth-year goalie Raphael Audet (Rimouski, QC) split the backstopping duties for the Spartans in the TWU loss. Sommer made 15 saves on 20 shots in 24:48 minutes, while Audet made 23 saves on 25 shots in 35:12 minutes. MacEwan's Zac Onyskiw played the full sixty, making 27 saves in the Griffins' win.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will face off with the Griffins again tomorrow at 3 p.m. (MT) at the Downtown Community Arena. The game is available to watch live on Canada West TV.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Griffins got off to a quick start with Chorney scoring at 1:06 of the opening period. TWU's Landmanis tied the game up with his first of the season at 8:55. MacEwan took a two-goal lead heading into the first intermission with two goals in 19 seconds. Scott scored at 13:11 and Chabot at 13:40 to put MacEwan up 3-1 after 20 minutes.

The Griffins blew the game open with three straight goals in 83 seconds. Sundar started with a goal at 4:29, Jean Jr. at 4:48, and Simard at 5:52 to put MacEwan up 6-1. TWU got two back with Lowe scoring twice, once at 7:30 and again at 10:33. MacEwan's Dowhaniuk got the Griffins' final goal of the night at 11:23 to put MacEwan up 7-3. Knutson added another for the Spartans at 18:33 to make the score 7-4 for MacEwan after the first 40 minutes.

After the high-scoring second period, neither team found the back of the net in the final 20 minutes of play.

NOTABLE

• The Griffins outshot the Spartans 44-31.
• TWU was 1-6 on the power play, while MacEwan finished 1-2.
• The Spartans are currently 2-11 lifetime against the MacEwan Griffins. This season, TWU is 0-2 against MacEwan in conference play, losing 5-1 and 5-2 at the Downtown Community Arena in Edmonton, Alta., on October 24-25.
• In their final games of the fall semester, the Spartans lost 4-2 and 6-1 to the No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds in a home-and-home series on December 5-6.
• In their final games of the opening semester, the Griffins split with the Alberta Golden Bears, winning 4-3 in overtime and losing 5-4 in a shootout on December 5-6 in their home-and-home series.

 
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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