SFU lose in a shootout on the road, can’t rebound at home
By Andrew Jow
The Simon Fraser University Clan hockey team faced the Trinity Western University Spartans in a home-and-home series as the two clubs faced off for the last time this season. SFU had gotten the better of TWU in their last three matchups, but could not count on the last-place Spartans to go down without a fight.
The first game took place at TWU’s home rink, the Langley Events Centre. SFU took the lead early on a Brenden Silvester rocket, but TWU answered
50 seconds later on an easy tap in for Mattias Schmitt. The Clan’s Nick Sandor and Jono Ceci responded by scoring on two separate rushes. SFU
caught TWU’s defense out of position and made them pay. Spartan defenseman Jake Harcoff finished off a long first period with a goal for TWU. The goal was a result of some great pressure, which brought the home team within a goal after of the Clan after the first 20 minutes.
Trinity Western tied the game up and eventually took the lead one minute into the second, thanks to Schmitt and Matthew Ius. They capitalized off of a failed clearing attempt and a botched 2-on-2 by SFU’s defense. Things were soon tied when SFU defenseman Kale Wild jumped in on the rush and finished off a perfectly executed 3-on-1.
The TWU lead was restored on a late power play as Ius muscled home his second goal of the game. TWU carried much of play in the period as the Spartans proved they were not pushovers.
The Clan ran into some penalty trouble to begin the third, but two consecutive kills gave SFU the momentum. Trevor Milner tied the back-and-forth game as he deftly tipped in a Kale Wild point shot that sent the game into overtime tied 5–5.
SFU had the best chance in the extra frame as Christopher Hoe found Joey Pavone open in the high slot, but TWU goaltender Harry Fredeman turned Pavone’s wrister away. A shootout was needed to determine the victor.
Fredeman and SFU goaltender Evan Kurylo were solid, they turned away 11 out of 12 shooters. The lone scorer was TWU’s Chris Harano, which gave the Spartans the 6–5 victory. The second game between the two clubs took place
Saturday night at Bill Copeland Arena. SFU looked to bounce back strong after the tough loss in Langley.
Although SFU started strong, it was the visiting Spartans who scored first. SFU’s defensive zone meltdowns allowed TWU to score three unanswered goals credited to Cody Stephenson, Matt Chaput and Ius, who buried wide-open tap-ins at the goalmouth.
Ius’s marker was particularly frustrating for SFU, because he got credited for a Taylor Swaffield clearing attempt that hit goaltender Graham Gordon’s foot and trickled in. Captain Hoe finally put his team on the
board. He made no mistake of a great pass from Brenden Silvester.
In the first and second periods, Coach Mark Coletta changed his strategy from the night before. In the second game, SFU used the dump and chase rather than skating the puck out wide as they did the night before. Early in the second, the strategy worked as SFU set up down low, which put a lot of pressure on the Spartans’ defense.
But after 15 minutes of pressure, the Clan had nothing to show for their efforts. To make matters worse, TWU’s Stephenson found yet another loose puck in front of SFU’s net, and buried his second goal of the night. SFU’s Taylor Oak got one back, but SFU was down two heading into the third.
The final frame was TWU goaltender Harry Fredeman’s period. Two consecutive TWU penalties gave SFU an opportunity to tie this one up, but
Fredeman was not to be beaten, and TWU hung on for the 4–2 victory.
The Clan’s leading scorer, Ben Van Lare, and some key defensemen were not dressed for the series. SFU will need to put these two games behind them as first-place Selkirk College makes the trip to Burnaby next week for a showdown of the top two teams in the BCIHL.
