Tim Zwiers was just about ready to pack up his goalie pads and start focusing on an education.
The 19-year-old, who grew up spending much of his childhood among the Williams Lake Minor Hockey Association’s ranks, luckily, acted on an offer from Trinity Western University Spartans to suit up as the team’s goaltender two seasons ago.
Zwiers, to kick off the 2011/12 campaign, landed the team’s starting goaltender job and was honoured early March by the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League by being named the league’s top goalie and a first team all-star.
The Spartans, despite missing the playoffs with a 4-15-3 record, were thrilled with Zwiers play throughout the season. His efforts did not go unnoticed by the league, either, who presented him the awards March 13 at the BCIHL year-end banquet.
“We did have a pretty rough year, so it was good to get a bit of individual recognition for my efforts,” Zwiers said. “At the end of the day, though, I’d rather be playing in the playoffs.”
Zwiers finished the campaign with a 3.86 goals against average and a .896 save percentage. He played the second-most minutes of any goaltender with 933, and faced the third-most amount of shots at 577. He finished with two wins, 10 losses and three ties with one shutout.
“I had great numbers in the first semester,” he said. “But a few changes on our team and across the league caused my numbers to drop off a bit, but my play stayed pretty consistent.”
Zwiers, following his peewee season in Prince George, moved to Williams Lake with his family where he played until reaching his midget ‘AAA’ season.
He has spent time playing with the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets and Calgary Hitmen, along with playing in the British Columbia Hockey League for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
Following a brief stint with the Kamloops Storm of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL), Zwiers accepted the offer from the Spartans.
Zwiers, who noted Trinity Western University is a Christian school, said he’s happy with his decision to continue playing hockey at the collegiate level. He is currently studying for an education major and hopes to be a high school physical education and history teacher.
“Trinity Western being a Christian university, that’s a big part of our school,” he said. “I plan on being here until I graduate.”
