Three third period goals lift Rams over Hawks

TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams men's hockey team used three third period goals to rally for a 5-3 victory over the visiting Laurier Golden Hawks on Thursday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Rams rookie Andreas Tsogkas (Scarborough, Ont.) scored his first OUA goal at 17:14 of the third period to give Ryerson the lead for good.

"It felt absolutely unbelievable," said Tsogkas following the game. "We were just thinking 'get the puck out of our own zone first' because it was a tie game late in the game. Once we got up the ice, Terreri made a nice drop pass…and I was just trying to get the puck to the net…maybe get a rebound. But it felt unbelievable afterwards scoring my first goal and having it be the winner of the game today."

Laurier opened the scoring just 3:20 into the game when Zach Lorentz capitalized on a turnover at the Rams blueline. His shot deflected off a skate in front and found the back of the net to give the Golden Hawks an early 1-0 lead.

Ryerson responded three minutes later when Alex Basso (Toronto) walked into the slot and backhanded his first goal off the post and in to tie the game at ones. Later in the period the Rams took a 2-1 lead when Mitch Gallant (Charlottetown, PEI) walked out from the corner and beat the goalie over the shoulder for his fifth goal of the year.

Before the end of the frame, Laurier's Mike Webley knotted the score at 2-2 when he parked himself in front of Rams goaltender Troy Passingham (Mississauga, Ont.) and banged home a centering pass from the corner.

After a busy first period, neither team could beat the goaltenders in the second stanza and the score remained at 2-2 after forty minutes.

Laurier took their second lead of the night when Tyler Stothers scored the Golden Hawks' second unassisted marker of the night just 4:12 into the period.

Making his season debut, Rams captain Michael Fine (Toronto) tied things back up at 3-3 when his centering pass from behind the goal line bounced off a leg in front and found the five-hole of Laurier goalie Chris Festarini, setting the stage for Tsogkas's winner.

"Michael is a real skilled hockey player...and I think he'll get his line going. I thought Mitch (Gallant) had a good game...and Domenic Alberga might be spinning his wheels a little bit but with Fine here now that will be a real solid line that can be offensive. Michael is a real key to that line and we really missed him," said head coach Graham Wise following the game.

Daniel Clairmont (Bracebridge, Ont.) added an empty netter to ice the victory.

Passingham stopped 34 of 37 shots in the victory while Festarini stopped 32 of 36 shots in the losing effort.

Ryerson moves to 3-3-0 on the season and will be action on Saturday when they face the Waterloo Warriors in Waterloo at 6:30 p.m.

Source: Ryerson Rams