Make it 11 straight for the streaking Trinity Western Spartans.
Jarrett Fontaine scored 17 seconds into overtime on Saturday in a 5-4 win over the UVic Vikes at the Langley Events Centre. Coupled with a 4-1 home-ice win on Thursday over the SFU Clan, and the Spartans now lead the BC Intercollegiate Hockey League with a 16-3-0-0 record.
The Spartans were up 4-1 in the third period over the Vikes but the Victoria visitors stormed back with three goals to force overtime.
Fontaine scored twice and Stefan Gonzales and Dustin Deugau each had one goal but the real story was Florian Niedermaier, who opened the scoring with his 31st career goal to become the all-time leading goal scorer in the history of the TWU program.
“Flo is probably one of our most responsible players for us at both ends of the ice. So for him to get an offensive record like that is a really good accomplishment,” said TWU coach Barret Kropf.
“He’s always taking care of things for us at both ends of the ice and he’s a smart hockey player.”
The coach felt his team had a bad game, despite the victory, as there was not much flow because of the contant parade to the penalty box.
“But even when you have a bad game, there are always a few players who played well, so you can’t drive the bus over everybody. For a few games in a row, Kaleb (Denham) has played really well. He’s playing really responsibility and making smart plays at both ends of the ice,” Kropf said.
“Up front, Fontaine is the energizer bunny whose batteries are on full-go all the time.
“Victoria is such a hard-working team. If speed is our DNA this year, hard work is their DNA. So, they always make it difficult. It’s probably a good time to have a wake-up call and help us get zoned in with the playoffs coming up.”
In Thursday’s victory, Dylan Sakatch scored his first as a Spartan and also added an assist in the 4-1 win.
Kade Vilio, Tyler McMinn and Evan Last had the other TWU goals.