A hat trick and four points from PJ Buys paced the Trinity Western Spartans to a seventh-straight victory.
The Spartans hockey team doubled up the Eastern Washington Eagles 6-3 on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre.
The victory was the team’s fourth straight win by three goals or more.
“From a systems standpoint, I think we are doing a good job,” said TWU coach Barret Kropf, whose team improved to a B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League-best 15-2-0-2. The team needs one win in their final five games — or a single Victoria loss — to clinch top spot.
“The guys are starting to get it figured out. I know that seems weird to say at this point of the season, but there has definitely been some good buy-in over the last couple of weeks in terms of our system play,” Kropf said.
“It’s almost to the point where it doesn’t matter who we have in the line-up, we can just roll.”
Twice in the game, the Spartans scored a pair of goals less than a minute apart — once in each the first and second periods.
Jamey Kreller, Grange Gordon and Mattias Schmitt had the other TWU goals.
Goaltender Aaron Oakley made 22 saves for the win.
Up next for the Spartans is a two-game set this weekend in Victoria against the second-place Vikes.
“At this point, we’re just making sure we don’t have bad habits creep in,” Kropf said.
“Even though we have a lot of confidence as a team right now, it’s a guarded confidence.
“Our guys are trusting each other and they have each other’s backs and that comes with confidence.”
