No Guts, No Glory
It’s amazing what new players, new culture, and a new attitude can do for a team. On Friday night, the Trinity Western University Spartans hockey team opened their inaugural season at the Langley Events Centre, and it started with a bang. After a busy offseason of recruiting players, overhauling the team’s logo, and starting a new culture within the program, the beginning effects of the Spartans’ hard work was given its first chance to shine against Fraser Valley and it didn’t take long to get started.
After conceding the first goal four minutes into the game, the Spartans were granted a 5-3 power-play in the middle of the first period and the new attitude immerged. Coach Dwyane Loudermilk decided to pull their own goaltender, giving the Spartans a 6-3 man advantage. This, combined with the face-off advantageously in UFV’s end, the Spartans capitalized on their unique opportunity with a goal from Pete Masterson that tied the game up 1-1 and never looked back.
The Spartans took back to back goals from Robert Vos and Josh Stephenson to take the lead 3-1. The game then began to get chippy, with a lot of physical altercations after the whistle, showing Fraser Valleys’ frustration level. After giving up a goal in the second period, the Spartans continued to show their offensive power when Brenden Stephen sniped home his first of the season, allowing the Spartans to continue their comfortable lead. The Spartans grew their lead when Vos netted his second goal of the night to ensure the Spartans first victory as a squad.
Fraser Valley added a couple of late goals in the third period that made the game a lot closer than it otherwise might have been. The TWU Spartans went on to a 5-4 victory, starting the season off 1-0.
The Spartans also played an exhibition game on Saturday night against a ‘Junior B’ team, the Aldergrove Kodiaks. The Spartans dominated the game winning 7-3. The Spartans have one away game next weekend against Okanagan before returning on the 8th and 9th of October to play Eastern Washington and Okanagan at the LEC, 7:00pm and 2:00pm respectively.
By: Jamieson Brooks
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