A pair of come-back victories helped the Trinity Western Spartans hockey team begin the second half of the season in style.
The Spartans went into Castlegar and won 4-3 and 2-1 in overtime over the Selkirk Saints, snapping the Saints’ 31-game home B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League winning streak.
Trinity Western improved to a league-best 11-2-0-2.
The first game on Friday night saw Cody Fidgett score with 1:23 left in regulation to snap a 3-3 tie. It was his third goal of the game.
The Spartans had trailed 3-1 early in the second before scoring the final three goals. PJ Buys had the other TWU goal as well as two assists.
Goaltender Silas Matthys made 37 saves for the win the first night and followed that up with a 39-save performance on Saturday.
Ryan Bakken played hero as his power-play goal in overtime was the difference in the 2-1 victory.
The Spartans trailed 1-0 after 40 minutes but Mattias Schmitt tied the score early in the third.
“It was a battle of attrition, with losing guys to injuries and penalties,” said Spartans coach Barret Kropf. “It was the guys that needed to do what they need to do that helped us over the hump.
“Silas played great. We got jammed up on penalties and it was hard to get flow going early on. We had to get our composure back and settle things down and I thought we really carried the third period. It was a great road weekend for us. A lot of guys played really well this weekend.”
The Spartans host the second-place SFU Clan on Thursday at the Langley Events Centre.
TWU has a five-point cushion on SFU, with a game in hand.
