The UBC Thunderbirds knocked off the Trinity Western Spartans 3-1 to capture the inaugural Captains Cup.

The men鈥檚 hockey teams played on Saturday afternoon at UBC鈥檚 Father Bauer Arena.

Trailing 2-0 in the third period, TWU鈥檚 Brayden Brown took a pass from Jacob Mills to get the Spartans on the board with a power-play marker. But that would be as close as they would get as UBC鈥檚 Manraj Hayer scored a late short-handed marker to restore the two-goal advantage.

Carter Popoff scored UBC鈥檚 first two goals.

鈥淎lthough we took a loss, I was really happy with our effort,鈥� said Spartans coach Barret Kropf.

鈥淔ive-on-five, it was amazing hockey. The pace of the game, the physicality and the display of skill was outstanding.鈥�

A string of penalties in the middle frame did disrupt the flow of the game.

鈥�(But) coming through that, we saw how well our penalty kill can operate, but at the same time, it鈥檚 hard to keep everyone rolling on the bench.鈥�

The Spartans were badly out-shot 41-15 with Silas Matthys making 38 saves in the defeat.

鈥淪ilas had a stellar performance and gave us an opportunity until the end to win the hockey game,鈥� Kropf said.

TWU went 1-1 at the Captains Cup competition 鈥� which was organized by the Vancouver Giants 鈥� beating SFU 2-1 in the earlier game.

The Spartans kick off their BC Intercollegiate Hockey League season with road games against Victoria and Vancouver Island on Oct. 6 and 7.