The Simon Fraser University hockey team saw their hot streak come to an end Friday night at the Langley Events Centre with a 3–0 loss to the Trinity Western University Spartans. With the loss, the Clan has now dropped both head-to-head matchups with TWU this season, despite beating them in the final exhibition game of the pre-season in late September.
The Clan now sits at 5–3 on the season, and remain tied for first in the BCIHL standings with Trinity Western. However, the Spartans, along with their lead in the season series, now have three games in hand over the Clan as the teams creep closer to the halfway point of the regular season schedule.
The teams played extremely tight, neutral-zone-dominated hockey for the first two periods of play. No goals were scored, only 34 shots were taken between the two teams, and there was a general lack of offensive opportunity. For the first two frames, the Clan did an outstanding job of limiting the Spartan offensive attack by allowing a paltry 11 shots on goal against. The 0–0 deadlock would carry into a third period that would finally see some opening up of offensive opportunities, albeit opportunities that were only capitalized on by the home team.
In the third, the Spartans would finally break through the deadlock five minutes into the period with two quick goals from forwards Logan Casavant and Evan Last. Elijah Villo would add an insurance marker with eight minutes remaining in the game as the Spartans locked down the defensive end to secure the win and keep up their perfect record on the season against SFU.
Between the pipes, Michael Lenko started his sixth game of the season, taking the loss to fall to 3–3 on the year. Lenko stopped 25 of 28 shots.
Following the game, coach Mark Coletta emphasized that there “were definitely a lot of positives to build off of in this game” despite the loss. He continued by saying that he was impressed by the defensive effort in the first two periods, while admitting that most of the Clan’s dissatisfaction should be related to its dismal performance on the power play and general lack of ability to bury opportunities.
Assistant coach Jimmy Camazzola added to this interpretation, arguing that the team needs to improve its emotional composition in the face of adversity, especially when giving up the first goal of the game late.
Looking ahead to their next game action, the Clan will now prepare for a two-game Vancouver Island road trip with matchups against the last-place UVIC Vikes in Victoria and the VIU Mariners in Nanaimo. The trip represents two of the three remaining regular season games for the Clan in the first half of the season. SFU will face an unusual three full weeks without game action before concluding their first half with another matchup against TWU, this time, at home at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre on December 7.
