After setting the BC Intercollegiate Hockey League winning streak, the Selkirk College Saints hockey team faltered Friday, before bouncing back on Sunday.
The Saints absorbed their first loss of the season, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Trinity Western, but rebounded smartly on Sunday en route to a 5-3 victory over Eastern Washington University.
With just 28 seconds remaining in the middle frame, league-leading scorer Jordan Wood tipped in a Lucas Hildebrand point shot to make it 4-2, on what would prove to be the winner for the Saints.
Wood and Jake Flynn traded third period goals and netminder Stephen Wolff came up big with a breakaway save off EWU forward Ryan Pajimola to help preserve the two-goal lead.
Selkirk fell behind 1-0 in the first, but in the second period Cody Fidgett scored on an early man-advantage and minutes later, Beau Taylor pounced on a rebound to give the visitors their first lead of the night.
Pajimola tied the game briefly on another Eagles power-play, but Scott Swiston took a long lead pass from Ben Starbuck and fired a snap shot home from the top of the circle to re-take the lead, and Wood capped it with his tip in.
“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.