Coming off a dominating 6-2 win over Eastern Washington last week, the Simon Fraser University men’s hockey team is eager for its next challenge.
The Trinity Western University Spartans, who share a 4-2-0 record and tied for second in the B.C. Interuniversity Hockey League with the Clan, are that challenge.
“(It’s) two teams that skate the puck well on a big sheet of ice over at the Langley Events Centre, so I think we’ve just got to stay the course, we probably won’t make too many changes but we will ramp up the energy level at practice,” said SFU head coach Mark Coletta.
The teams have met once so far this season, with the Clan pulling out a 5-4 win to spoil TWU’s home opener. Jaret Babych and Mike Sandor each had a pair of goals in the victory.
Spartan forwards P.J. Buys and Mattias Schmitt lead Trinity Western in points and are tied for sixth in the league with 10 points apiece, one more than SFU’s top sniper Tyler Basham. Burnaby native Matthew Vela sits 10th in league points with four goals and four assists over six games with TWU.
In last week’s win, SFU led 4-0 before Eastern Washington got on the board, with goals coming from Basham, with his team-leading fourth goal, Mathew Berry-Lamontagna, Adam Rossi, Stephen Ryan, Graham Smerek and Brandon Tidy.
Smerek was named the BCIHL Player of the Week after a three-point performance on Saturday, which included his second goal of the year.
Trinity Western starting goaltender Silas Matthys is coming off a 49-save effort against Eastern Washington last week.
New Westminster’s Jordan Liem made 38 saves in SFU’s victory on Saturday.
The action starts at 7 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday.
Next week, the Clan return to the Bill Copeland complex for a rematch, Nov. 28 against TWU. Admission is free with student ID.
