Trinity Western Spartans men's ice hockey

When the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) was formed in 2006, one of the founding members was a club team from Trinity Western University, playing under the banner of 'Trinity Western Titans'. The team was rather poor during this time, however, that did not dissuade the university from promoting the program to varsity status in 2010.^[2] However, even with the athletic department behind the program, the Spartans had trouble finding their game. The team posted losing seasons every year until finally settling in in 2015. Three years later, the club won its first league championship, which was followed by a second in 2019. After their second consecutive title, Canada West announced that Trinity Western's men's and women's ice hockey programs would join the conference in 2020.^[3]

In their final season in the BCIHL, Trinity Western was set up for their third title, however, the entire postseason was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4] The outbreak also caused the cancellation of the entire Canadian college season in 2020–21, delaying TWU's entry into senior hockey by a year.

Once the Spartans made their Canada West debut, the team could hardly have performed worse. The team finished dead-last in the standings while allowed more than five and half goals per game. Barret Kropf, who had led the team since 2013, was replaced by former NHLer Ben Walter. The next two seasons weren't much better for Trinity Western as they continued to wallow at the bottom of the conference with only slight improvements in win totals.^[5]