The goaltenders stole the show Friday night at the Langley Events Centre.

Scoreless ties are a rarity in ice hockey, but the Trinity Western University Spartans and Eastern Washington Eagles battled to one Friday night at the Langley Events Centre.

Spartans' goaltender Tim Zwiers made 27 saves to earn his first shutout of the season.

Meanwhile, his Eagles' counterpart Cash Ulrich stopped 25 pucks as he also picked up his first goose egg of the campaign.

The tie is the second between these two teams in as many games, as they skated to a 3-3 deadlock the last time they faced each other Nov. 25.

The Spartans are now 3-8-3 on the season while the Eagles are 5-8-2.

"You see a little rust kick off but that's for both teams," said Spartans coach Dwayne Lowdermilk said after the contest. "But with pretty much just a week's worth of practices before tonight, I'm proud of how the boys played. The biggest part for us is the defence. We lost a few guys on the blueline over the break but a number of guys stepped up for us tonight."

Lowdermilk called some of Zwiers' saves "phenomenal."

"He stood on his head," the head coach said. "All we can ask of him is to fill in where [former Spartans puckstopper] JP Chapman was and I think he's there for good, now."

The Eagles got the first great opportunity of the game to generate offensive chances when they were given an elongated five-on-three opportunity in the first few minutes of the contest.

Unfortunately for the visitors, they managed just one shot on the near-two minute advantage and instead the Spartans garnered the momentum.

Trinity Western's best chance of the second period came midway through the frame on a shot off the rush from Matt Chaput that rang off the left post.

The Eagles nearest opportunity came off a Jake Flynn rush in which he put a low shot on net that Zwiers stopped but it was an ensuing glove save off the rebound that had the crowd buzzing.

Despite the Eagles possessing a 19-16 advantage in shots, the score remained tied after the second.

In the third period, both teams got their fair share of chances but again couldn't find the back of the net.

With 2:21 left in the period, Chaput was whistled for a hooking call, which gave the Eagles a chance for a late-game winner on the power play. Eastern Washington did hit a post with the man-advantage on a point shot but, despite a late flurry, couldn't beat Zwiers.