Trinity Western third year forward Jarrett Fontaine scored 44 seconds into overtime to lift the Spartans to a 3-2 victory over the visiting Vancouver Island Mariners in BCIHL action Friday night at the Langley Events Centre.
The win improves the first place Spartans to 12-2-0-1 (25 points), while the loss drops the second place Mariners to 9-5-0-2 (20 points).
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The Spartans looked like they had the game won in regulation as they led 2-1 and were on the power-play with 1:50 remaining in the game. But VIU’s Brett Witala had other ideas as he got the puck past TWU’s Lucas Mills to tie the game with 1:32 remaining.
TWU’s Lucas Mills made 25 saves to earn the win, while Matt Huber made 35 saves in the VIU loss.
“There were moments where it had a playoff feel in terms of the pace and the effort,” TWU Head Coach Barret Kropf said.
“I could keep talking about (Fontaine) every game. He saves the game at one end and then scores the winner. He’s not the only who had good efforts tonight, but he was good once again. But VIU is a good hockey team and we have to give them respect because they battled back to get a point.”
The Spartans are now 4-0 against the Mariners this season. All games were one goal games, with two going into overtime.