It was not the start they were looking for in their first game of the hockey season.
The Trinity Western Spartans men’s hockey team opened the 2011/12 campaign on the wrong end of a 10-2 score against host Simon Fraser at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre on Saturday (Oct. 8).
Simon Fraser had control of the play for most of the game as they outshot the Spartans 42 to 18. SFU led 4-0 after the first period and 6-1 after the second period.
“SFU are a big fast team and when they put us under pressure we had breakdowns which cost us,” commented TWU head coach Dwayne Lowdermilk. “Our top three lines battled hard and when we attacked we showed good pressure. But we have to be willing to shoot and drive rebounds instead of trying that extra stick handle move.”
Ben Van Lare led the scoring for SFU with three goals, while Tony Oak added two goals and two assists. Also scoring for SFU were Derek Henderson, Christopher Hoe, Barry Moscone, Trent Murdoch and Tadz Brown.
Scoring the two goals for the Spartans were Kye Benjaminsen at 19:11 of the second period, with assist going to Brendan Elenko, and Bradley Bakken, with the assist to Trevor Beaupre, who scored a short-handed goal at 15:25 of the third period.
The bright spot for the Spartans was their penalty kill, which held SFU scoreless in seven attempts. “Our strongest players shift to shift were Trevor Beaupre and Trevor Edwards on penalty kills which we stopped all seven chances,” commented Lowdermilk. “Aaron Remerisma also played a strong game switching from centre to wing.”
TWU’s JP Chapman was in net for the majority of the contest for the Spartans, while SFU’s Evan Kurylo got the win for the Burnaby club.
Next up for the Spartans is a home and away series with the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack. TWU will travel to Kamloops, B.C. for an evening game on Friday, October 14 and then return to Langley for their home opener on Saturday afternoon. Game time on October 15 at the Langley Events Centre is set for 1 p.m.
