After opening the BCIHL semifinals with a loss to the Trinity Western Spartans by a score of 3–2 at the Langley Events Centre, the Clan hoped to bounce back Friday when they faced them again at the Bill Copeland Centre.
The Clan did just that, with goaltender Ryan Parent notching a shutout in a 2-0 victory. Special teams were in SFU’s favour with an effective penalty kill, thwarting all seven Spartan power plays, and also scoring one power play goal.
SFU started out with the offensive edge, however an early penalty to the Clan evened up the momentum, and TWU goalie Silas Matthys made some key saves on SFU chances. Parent was not to be outdone, however, making a brilliant save with just a minute left to keep the first period scoreless, with the shot count slightly favouring the Clan at 11–8.
However, the Clan dominated the second period, holding TWU shotless for nearly seven minutes. Before the Spartans could even muster a shot, second year Clan forward Nick Sandor opened up the scoring on the power play with 16:04 left in the period, which would end up being the game winner.
A series of penalties for the Clan nearly resulted in a goal for TWU with Spartan forward JP Villeneuve deking past everyone, only for his shot to get blocked before it hit the net.
Fresh off the penalty kill momentum, the Clan’s Kale Wild set up a backhand one-timer goal by rookie Yan Kalashnikov with a nice feed, putting SFU at a comfortable 2-0 lead which would hold for the rest of the game. Defenceman Jared
Eng also notched an assist on the goal.
After being dominated offensively in the second period, TWU mounted a pushback in the third, taking the shot count from 26–13 in SFU’s favour to 31–29 after the third, still in the Clan’s favour. However, neither side generated much offence in the third, keeping victory hopes for the Clan in tact.
A lacklustre power play by the Spartans at the end of the period and a poorly timed penalty with only 1:34 left ensured Parent’s shutout and the Clan’s victory in a mostly dominant game for SFU.
However, the Clan went on to lose Sunday night in the pivotal game three by a score of 4–1, despite out-shooting the Spartans 41–17.
An inability to capitalize plagued their Thursday loss, in which they outshot TWU 43–18, and was noticeable even in their 2–0 win Friday; it came back to bite once again, causing a disappointing upset in the best of three series.
The Trinity Western Spartans, who have never placed higher than third, will face the reigning champions, the Selkirk Saints, in the BCIHL finals, while the Clan head home early.
