It was a case of deja vu for the Selkirk College Men’s Hockey program, as for the second straight B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League season the Saints dominated Thompson Rivers University to sweep a two-game mid-October homestand.
After earning a one-sided 8-2 victory on Friday evening, Selkirk got the better of the WolfPack by a 5-1 score in a more competitive rematch on Saturday at the Castlegar Recreation Complex.
Connor McLaughlin once again led the way offensively for the Saints, scoring the game’s opening goal four minutes into regulation as well as the 3-0 tally early in the second period. Sandwiched between those markers was Darnell Dyck’s first BCIHL goal off a nifty Logan Proulx feed late in the first.
Former Trail Smoke Eaters forward Tyler Berkholtz trimmed the Selkirk lead to 3-1, but the Saints shut down the WolfPack in the third and received insurance goals from Cody Fidgett and Logan Proulx to cap the scoring.
“We had some defensive lapses on Friday night that we wanted to clean up, and we were much stronger in our own zone on Saturday,” said Saints head coach Jeff Dubois. “Offensively things are rolling pretty well and all four lines are contributing. Connor (McLaughlin) has been very hard to stop, and his line with Scott (Swiston) and Beau (Taylor) has done an outstanding job playing against the other team’s top line.”
James Prigione picked up his second win in as many starts in goal for Selkirk, stopping 24 shots on the night. Chris Solecki took the loss for TRU but made a number of outstanding saves amongst his 39 stops.
The Saints and WolfPack will meet again on Friday in Kamloops (8:30 p.m., Memorial Arena) before Selkirk travels to the Lower Mainland for their first regular season match-up against SFU.
