The Selkirk College Men's Hockey team was looking for a bounce-back effort on Sunday after being dealt their first loss of the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League season two nights earlier at home to Trinity Western. And the Saints got what they were looking for from their first trip south of the border, netting four goals in the second period en route to a 5-3 victory over Eastern Washington University.
Selkirk struggled out of the gates, taking six minor penalties in the first period and conceding a power-play goal via a Joel Blasko deflection midway through the frame. 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.
"We started slowly today, which has become a running theme over the last number of games," says 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. It was good to get back on a winning note right away, especially with a weekend off coming up. 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 is now off until Friday, February 1st 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.