Selkirk Saints continue with record-setting season, score weekend wins over SFU and TRU
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Selkirk College Saints continue to make this season as one for the history books.
The Saints defeated rival Simon Fraser University Clan 2-1 in shootout to set new B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League records for wins (20) and points (40) Saturday at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre in Burnaby.
Thomas Hardy scored the deciding marker in shootout, beating Clan netminder Graeme Gordon through the legs to seal a Saints victory.
Justin Sotkowy scored for Selkirk to give the visitors a 1-0 lead before Trevor Milner drew the Clan even with seven minutes remaining in regulation to force overtime.
Five minutes of four-on-four play solved nothing, meaning that Selkirk moved on to their first shootout of the season.
Sotkowy put the Saints ahead in the second round, only to see Jono Ceci reply on SFU’s third shot.
Stephen Wolff was outstanding in goal for Selkirk, stopping 37 of 38 shots fired his way and turning aside shootout attempts from Milner and Colton Graf.
Selkirk opened the two-game road weekend in Kamloops by topping Thompson Rivers University 6-4.
Missing a handful of top players, including league-leading scorers Jordan Wood and Logan Proulx, the Saints jumped out to a 4-1 lead but had to win the game late after TRU had come back to draw even with six minutes remaining.
Scott Swiston opened the scoring when he capitalized on a turnover low in the WolfPack slot and roofed a backhand shot over Shane Mainprize.
TRU responded off the stick of Scott Bollefer but Connor McLaughlin restored the Selkirk lead minutes later when he redirected a Dylan Smith point shot.
The Saints scored twice in the early going of the second period on a pair of goals from Beau Taylor to go up 4-1, but a couple of defensive lapses proved costly as TRU scored shorthanded twice in 33 seconds to draw back within one.
Selkirk held the lead through most of the third period until Tyler Jackson redirected a Jarrett Martin pass for the equalizer.
But, as they have many times this season, the Saints dug deep and scored the winner with 3:50 remaining in regulation as Jackson Garrett deflected home a Lucas Hildebrand point shot.
Taylor then completed the hat trick with six seconds remaining to cap the scoring.
“We knew that it was going to take a full team effort to pick up the win tonight with some key guys missing, and that’s what we got,” said Saints head coach Jeff Dubois.
“Beau came through with a big game and our D did a great job of getting pucks to the net for three tip-in goals.”
Alex Sirard picked up his 12th win of the season, stopping 29 shots.
Selkirk will wrap the regular season with a home-and-home series against Eastern Washington on March 1st and 2nd and open the playoffs at home on March 8th against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
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