Spartans get four-point weekend over Alberta Golden Bears

LANGLEY, British Columbia – After a convincing 7-3 win on Friday night, the Trinity Western Spartans made it two in a row with a 3-2 (2-1) shootout victory over the visiting Alberta Golden Bears Saturday night at the George Preston Arena in Langley, B.C. The Spartans have now earned three straight wins over the Golden Bears, one in regulation and two in shootouts.
 
The win moves the Spartans to 3-12-1-0 in Canada West conference play, while the shootout loss drops the Golden Bears to 7-7-0-2.
 
Scoring for the Spartans were third-year forward Mikhailo Simchuk (Kyiv, Ukraine) with his eighth of the season, and second-year forward Artem Hrabovetskyi (Kyiv, Ukraine) also with his eighth of the season. Third-year forward Christian Lowe (Port Moody, B.C.) scored the shootout winner for the Spartans. Scoring for the Golden Bears were Dylan Ruptash with his third of the season and Marcus Pacheco with his fourth of the season.
 
Fourth-year goalie Leon Sommer made 51 saves in the Spartans' shootout win. Ethan Kruger made 30 saves for the Golden Bears.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now face off against cross-town rival UBC Thunderbirds in a home-and-home series. TWU will host UBC at the Langley Events Centre on Thursday, December 4, at 7 p.m. (PT) and then travel to Vancouver for a 7 p.m. (PT) game at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on Friday. Both games can be seen live on Canada West TV.
 
QUOTABLE
Ben Walter, TWU Head Coach
"Tonight was a great game all around for our entire team.  It was a hard-fought game, and we stuck with our game plan all night.  Leon Sommer was outstanding again, and we had our top offensive players step up again with Simchuk, Lowe, and Hrabovetskyi having very strong games."
AS IT HAPPENED
After a scoreless opening period, Simchuk opened the scoring with a power play goal at 12:30 of the second period to put TWU up 1-0. The Spartans Hrabovetskyi got his fourth of the weekend with a goal at 16:50 to put TWU up 2-0 heading into the third period.
Alberta tied the game in the third period with two goals in 23 seconds. Ruptash made it a one-goal game at 6:15 with Pacheco tying the game at 6:38 to make it 2-2. Neither team scored again as the game went into overtime.
With neither team able to score in overtime, the game went to a shootout where Simchuk and third-year forward Christian Lowe (Port Moody, B.C.) scored for the Spartans, and Sommer made two stops to give TWU the 3-2 (2-1) shootout victory.
  
NOTABLE

• The Golden Bears outshot the Spartans 53-33
• TWU was 1-3 on the power play, while Alberta finished 0-4.
• The Spartans are currently 4-14 lifetime against the Alberta Golden Bears. TWU is now 3-3 against Alberta this season.
• Last night the Spartans defeated the Golden Bears 7-3.
• Earlier this season, the Spartans split with the Bears, losing 4-2 and winning 4-3 in a shootout on October 31 and November 1 at home in Langley, B.C. And lost twice, 5-1 and 3-2, to Alberta on October 3 and 4 in Edmonton, Alta.

 
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as in the NAIA in track and field and cross country and as an independent team in men's rugby and women's and men's disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 33 Canada West team championships.

About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in U SPORTS. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.