The Spartan hockey team tied their first game in the playoffs on Saturday. For Brandon Van Dillan, the team could’ve played better.

“We could have done better, but we tied,” Van Dillan said. “We could have passed more.”

For Van Dillan, the strength of the game came from keeping the momentum and chasing missed goals.

“Our dump and chase went well and we figured out defense after the last period,” Van Dillan said.

According to Rayan Barghchoun, the tie was fortunate, but it was also lucky considering the team’s performance was mediocre.

“We didn’t play our best, it was definitely a team we should’ve beaten,” Barghchoun said. “If we lost, that meant we were out. I think compared to other games we have played in the past, we did relatively well.”

The team just needs to work on keeping the energy up throughout the entire game.

“We should work on having the same push throughout the game, instead of coming down in the 3rd quarter. We need to carry the energy through the whole game,” Barghchoun said.

Brendan Westcott agrees. He thinks the team got tired in the 3rd quarter, even if they continued to expect the best from themselves.

“We give it all we got, and everyone tries their hardest,” Westcott said. “We definitely had pretty good energy in the 1st and the 2nd as well, but got tired in the 3rd. Overall, I think we did good at continuing to go after the puck.”

Looking into further games, the team has high hopes for the rest of the playoffs.

“I think we can do well; we are a pretty decent team,” Barghchoun said. “I have faith that we can do good.”

The next game is tonight at 6:30 against Parkway West.