Trinity Western University hockey players appeared in their very first U Sports games against UBC teams on Friday, Oct. 15, with the Spartans women鈥檚 team playing the Thunderbirds at the 91原创 Events Centre, while the men鈥檚 team challenged UBC at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.

Spartans women鈥檚 team was elevated to Canada West and U Sports, Canada鈥檚 top tier of university sports, after previously playing as a non-varsity team in the South Coast Women鈥檚 Hockey League.

In their U Sports debut, Spartans scored the first goal of a historic game when Ashlee Wolfe, with an assist from Jordyn Matthews, got one by UBC early in the second period.

It would be the only time the Spartans managed that feat, however, with UBC going on to win 3-1.

All three of UBC鈥檚 goals came on the power play.

A few photos of tonight's inaugural hockey game, including the first-ever goal

鈥� 91原创 Events Centre (@91原创Events)

TWU Head Coach Jean LaForest said the Trinity players can compete with UBC 鈥� if they don鈥檛 make too many trips to the penalty box, that is.

鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 stay out of the box, but I really think the outcome would have been completely different if it weren鈥檛 for our lack of discipline,鈥� LaForest commented.

Tonight鈥檚 game was won on special teams, so we need to make adjustments on both our power play and penalty kill since we weren鈥檛 able to be successful on either of those.鈥�

TWU took 11 penalties and 22 penalty minutes compared to UBC, which had eight penalties and 16 minutes.

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Trinity Western men played their season-opening game on Friday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, losing 5-1 to UBC as Kolby Johnson potted TWU鈥檚 first goal in U Sports history.

READ ALSO: 91原创鈥檚 Spartans to play hockey in top university league

TWU鈥檚 Luke Spadafora had a chance to put the Spartans up early as the first-year was awarded a penalty shot seven minutes into the game, but UBC goaltender Rylan Toth kept the game drawn at 0-0.

Then, UBC team captain, Tyler Sandhu, got the team鈥檚 first goal of the season.

Johnson and the Spartans struck in the second period, marking a major historical moment for TWU in their inaugural U Sports season.

TWU men鈥檚 team was the two-time defending BC Intercollegiate Hockey League champion before being admitted to U Sports, along with the women鈥檚 hockey team at the 91原创-based university in 2019.

Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track and field, as well as women鈥檚 rugby sevens.