After splitting back-to-back games the previous weekend in Castlegar, SFU Men’s Hockey fell 5-0 against a Serkirk College defence that stifled any scoring chances.
“Selkirk earned what they got,” said head coach Mark Coletta. “I think we’ve got to work on a couple of things, make some adjustments.”
On a rare Friday night game, the first period was scoreless, with SFU holding the slight advantage in shots at 6-5.
Selkirk, however, put up a three goal performance in the third period to take a commanding lead.
Ryan Edwards opened the scoring for Selkirk just under two minutes into the period. Dallas Calvin, who is second in BCIHL scoring, but has been held pointless three games by SFU and was held to just one point last weekend, added the second goal and was a dominant presence.
In the third, Selkirk’s Steven Pantazopolous added an empty netter, and Troy Maclise just barely beat the buzzer to make it 5-0.
“Obviously everyone wants to win, we know every guy in there wants to win, so that’s the not the problem,” he said. “We know they all want to win, now it’s a matter of fixing the attitude and the desire and the readiness for our guys when the puck drops.”
SFU had trouble converting on the power play, going scoreless on five opportunities, and couldn’t find a way to score against a Selkirk Saints team committed to shot-blocking. Shots were 23-22 in Selkirk’s favour.
SFU goaltender Jordan Liem made some key saves, despite the 5-0 result.
“It’s the old adage, you might as well lose them now than to lose them in the playoffs, so if we got the ugly one out tonight, then I guess that’s the silver lining, but attitude is everything in that dressing room,” said Coletta.
With the loss, SFU falls to second place, as Selkirk now has one more point and a game in hand.
The Clan will look to make up for the loss next Saturday at their last regular season home game, facing the fourth-placed University of Victoria Vikes, a potential first round match-up. SFU are 3-1-0 against the Vikes and are undefeated by them at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre.
The final game of the regular season will also mark SFU Hockey Alumni Night, celebrating 10 years of this incarnation of Clan hockey, featuring both alumni from the current incarnation of the team, as well as players from the 1970’s version of the Clan. SFU students get in free with student ID, while adult tickets are $10 and children’s/senior’s $5. Puck drop is at 7 pm.
