SUDBURY, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team had spread the wealth on Saturday night in the second half of their northern road trip, which worked out well as they walked away with a 5-3 victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs.
 
The win is the fourth straight for UOIT, the first time winning four in a row since the Ridgebacks opened 2016-17 conference play with five victories.
 
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) earned his first regulation victory of the season, making 24 saves, while Gunner Rivers allowed five goals on 30 UOIT shots at the opposite end of the ice to take the loss.
 
The Ridgebacks had five different goal scorers, but Ben Blasko (Kingston, Ont.) was the only one to finish with an assist as well. Jesse Baird (Brampton, Ont.) and Brennan Roy (Iroquois Falls, Ont.) each had two assists.
 
Nicolas Dionne opened the scoring for Laurentian in the game just 3:44 into the contest, but UOIT's Alex Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) knotted things up with his second of the season. After one the Ridgebacks and Voyaguers were tied, but Laurentian held the shot advantage 11-8.
 
An explosive second period saw UOIT score three goals on 16 shots, starting with Josh Maguire (Cobourg, Ont.) scoring his second of the season. Mike Robinson (Stouffville, Ont.) scored his team-leading ninth goal 10:30 into the second, before Blasko pushed the lead to 4-1 with 3:25 remaining in the period.
 
Danny Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) ripped his second of the year to start the third period, making it look like the game was all by over with 16:35 to go.
 
That said, Laurentian had goals by Tyler Shaw and Brent Pedersen to answer, but that was as close as they got, even with seven plus minutes to score the two equalizing goals.
 
UOIT wraps up the opening half of the season with doubleheaders over the next two weekends. On November 24-25, they host the Lakehead Thunderwolves on back-to-back days at the Campus Ice Centre.
 
The following weekend the second-place UQTR Patriotes are in town for games on December 1-2. Puck drop next Friday is 7:30 p.m.
 
QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 8-8-1
Conference Record: 6-5-1

Next game: Friday, Nov. 24 vs. Lakehead Thunderwolves (7:30 PM – Campus Ice Centre)