Saints bounce back into win column with 5-3 victory over Eastern Washington
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Selkirk Saints scored four times in the second period to bounce Eastern Washington University 5-3 in B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League Sunday afternoon in Cheney, Washington.
The win allowed the Saints to end the weekend at .500 after suffering its first loss of the season, 2-1 Friday night at home against Trinity Western University.
“We started slowly today, which has become a running theme over the last number of games,” said Saints head coach Jeff Dubois.
“But we also put in one of our best periods in the second to take control of the game, and we limited Eastern’s chances for the most part in the third.”
Leaving their game on the bus, Selkirk took six minor penalties in the opening frame and watched as the Eagles grab the early lead on a Joel Blasko power play marker.
But the second period was a different story, beginning with a goal from Cody Fidgett on an early man-advantage. Minutes later, Fidgett fired a shot off the pad of Eagles starter Jason Greenwell and Beau Taylor pounced on the rebound to give the visitors their first lead of the night.
EWU forward Ryan Pajimola tied the game briefly on another Eagles power-play, but the Saints responded with a pair of goals before intermission.
First, Scott Swiston took a long lead pass from Ben Starbuck and fired home from the top of the circle to re-take the lead. And with just 28 seconds remaining in the frame, Jordan Wood tipped in a Lucas Hildebrand point shot to pad the Selkirk lead.
Wood and Jake Flynn traded third period goals and netminder Stephen Wolff came up big with a breakaway save off Pajimola to help preserve the two-goal lead. Wolff made 30 saves on the day to pick up the victory in his first start since November 10th.
” It was good to get back on a winning note right away, especially with a weekend off coming up,” Dubois explained.
“I think the sense of urgency kicked in after the first that we didn’t want to lose back-to-back games going into a break and from there they guys responded the right way.”
Selkirk, which started the season setting a new BCIHL record with 13 staright wins, is now off until Friday, February 1 when the team travels to Kamloops to face Thompson Rivers University.
The Saints’ next home game comes one night later when Simon Fraser University visits the Castlegar Rec Complex.
