M-HOCKEY ROUNDUP: Ravens hand No. 10 Mustangs first home loss
Friday, January 9
Lakehead 8 @ Nipissing 2
Coming off three wins in a row and two this past weekend, the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team unfortunately couldn't continue their strong play.
A slow start put them behind the eight ball as the Lakehead ThunderWolves cruised to an 8-2 win over the Lakers in the first of a pair of games this weekend between the two teams.
The T'Wolves led 2-0 less than two minutes into the game and led 3-0 13 minutes into the first period and while the Lakers climbed back in it, the hill ended up being too high for Nipissing.
Chad Thibodeau and Matt Paton scored in the final two minutes of the period to make it a game heading into the second period.
Thibodeau rifled a shot off the post and in on the power play, while Paton banged home a rebound after great pressure from his line in the offensive zone.
With the score 3-2 after 20, the ThunderWolves came out gunning again the second, adding three more goals, including two in less than 30 seconds.
Up 6-2 after two periods, Lakehead cruised in the third and added two more goals late to seal the win.
Jonny Mitchell finished with two assists, playing in just his second game since an injury forced him to miss the entire first half of the season.
The Lakers will look to get back to their winning ways tomorrow night when they face the same ThunderWolves team.
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.
Source: Nipissing Lakers
Queen's 1 @ York 4
The York University Lions men's hockey team triumphed over the Queen's Gaels 4-1 on Friday (Jan. 9) in its first game of 2015 at Canlan Ice Sports.
Shayne Rover (Newmarket, Ont.) played excellent defence as he dove onto the ground, used his body to block the puck, and even scored his own short-handed goal, what stood as the game winner. Rover assisted with the win by taking the pressure off Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) and blocking several of the Gaels' efforts.
Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) opened up the scoring at 4:46 with the help of Tyler McGee (Timmins, Ont.) and Michael Santini (Woodbridge, Ont.), putting the Lions in the lead early.
Perugini was caught outside of the net 15 minutes into the game, but the Lions defenders dove and tumbled in front of the net, bouncing the puck out. Unfortunately, the Gaels caught hold of the puck and Andrew Wiebe sent it soaring, tying the game 1-1.
The Lions never gave up and kept pushing until the final minutes of play. While killing a penalty, Rover sprinted down the ice alone, scooped the puck around the goalie and into the top left corner, scoring a short-handed goal and putting the Lions back in the lead.
The Gaels fought hard in the final minutes of play of the first, striking the York net. Perugini was able to effortlessly block the attack and the Lions led 2-1 after the first 20 minutes of play.
The Lions were hungry for more goals at the start of the second as Mark Cross (Strasbourg, Sask.) delivered the puck to Dylan Smoskowitz (Richmond Hill, Ont.), who aggressively shot the puck to the back of the net just over two minutes into the frame.
Not long after, at 10:33, Sheppard scooped the puck up and smacked it towards the goalie, assisting Smoskowitz with a deflection into the center of the net.
The game ended with a scoreless third period.
Queen's peppered the Lions' goal throughout the game and Perugini was forced to make 51 saves to earn the win. His counterpart, Kevin Bailie, made just 17 saves in the loss.
The Lions improved to 7-10-1 are in eighth place in the OUA West standings, while the Gaels are also in eighth in the OUA East standings at 8-9-1.
The next game for the Lions is Saturday (Jan. 10) against the UOIT Ridgebacks at Canlan Ice Sports.
Source: York Lions
Ryerson 1 @ UQTR 3
TROIS-RIVIERES, Que - Despite playing a strong road game, the Ryerson Rams men's hockey team dropped a 3-1 decision to the No. 6 UQTR Patriotes in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec on Friday night.
The Rams (9-7-1) outshot UQTR 31-26 but could only get one past Patriotes goaltender Guillaume Nadeau.
Billy Lacasse gave UQTR (13-2-2) an early 1-0 lead just 3:32 into the game. It would stay that way until early in the second period when Ryerson's Daniel Clairmont (Bracebridge, Ont.) scored his seventh of the season to tie it at 1-1.
UQTR regained its one-goal lead just 17 seconds into the final frame on a goal by Tommy Tremblay. Tommy Giroux would add an insurance marker midway through the period.
Rams goaltender Troy Passingham (Mississauga, Ont.) stopped 23 of 26 shots faced in the loss, while Nadeau saved 30 of 31 shots.
The Rams were 0-for-5 on the powerplay, while UQTR went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
Ryerson will visit the Concordia Stingers (7-12-0) Saturday afternoon in Montreal.
Source: Ryerson Rams
RMC 4 @ Western 9
LONDON, Ont. – With both teams coming in fresh off a month-long break, the RMC Paladins gave the Western Mustangs all they could handle on Friday night, scoring three second period goals to keep close in what finished as a 9-4 victory for the Mustangs at Thompson Arena.
The win served as an appropriate celebration for the birthday of Mustangs' captain Steve Reese, who turned 26 on Friday and chipped in two assists to commemorate the occasion. Reese was one of six Western players to turn in multi-point games on the night, as the Mustangs fired 47 shots and connected on 19 percent of those in a strong offensive showing.
But, at least defensively speaking, Mustangs' head coach Clarke Singer admitted after the game that his team wasn't exactly playing at their fullest potential.
"Defence is a lot about your mentality and I think obviously our mentality coming back here after Christmas and playing RMC wasn't where we needed it to be," said Singer. "I thought we were a little soft in a lot of areas, especially early on, but you know we haven't played in five weeks so we've got lots of things to tidy up besides that."
One of those things that Singer felt the team had to clean up might have come as a surprise to the casual observer on Friday. Despite the fact that his team cashed in on all three of their power play chances and added a shorthanded goal for good measure, Western's coach suggested that the man advantage could have been much better overall on the night.
"I didn't think we were great on the power play… the first goal was nice— the bumpout to [Noah Schwartz] and the quick one timer— but I thought we were a little loose," he said. "The special teams is the thing that will take the longest to come back after the break because it's about details, and those escape when you're not thinking about the game for five weeks."
Untidy defence and rusty power play aside, however, the Mustangs got a number of notable performances on the night, some of them coming from newer additions to the team.
Cody Brown and John Urbanic— both first year players seeing the first regular season action of their OUA career— each had points on Friday, with Urbanic grabbing an assist and Brown a goal and an assist. Brown's goal came with the help of another first-year player, as Jake Worrad split the Paladins' defence with a nice saucer pass to give Brown a breakaway— a chance he finished with a hard wrist-shot off the post and in.
"Outstanding," Singer replied when asked about the performance of Brown and Urbanic on the night. "Neither of those guys have been in the lineup since our [preseason] Alaska trip— they actually both got hurt the same game in very early October. But they both worked very hard, they've both got lots of skill and I thought they added a lot to our forward group tonight. Browny had a real nice goal and Urby had a couple of chances— I thought they did a fine job tonight."
Brown wasn't the only Mustang with a nice goal on Friday. Perhaps the prettiest tally of the night came off the stick of veteran defenceman Matt Paltridge, who beat his man to the outside, toed the goal line, and then—with very little space left—flipped a James Van Riemsdyk-esque shot into the small space between RMC goaltender Evan Deviller and the crossbar.
Deviller, who has battled injuries this season but still turned in a number of strong performances, was extremely busy on the night, and he didn't catch a break from either of Schwartz or Stefan Salituro. Schwartz opened the scoring on a short-handed hustle play in the first before being the recipient of a tic-tac-toe man advantage passing play (even if the 'tic' was a misfired shot from defenceman David Corrente), while Salituro had two goals and an assist.
With all that offence, it's easy to get away with thinking the Mustangs always had the game in the bag, especially when facing the only winless team in the CIS. But the Paladins put up quite the fight on Friday, responding to four straight Western goals in the first period with a quartet of their own to pull the score to 6-4 late in the second. If it weren't for Salituro scoring his second of the night with under three minutes left in the middle frame, Western might have been quite a bit more nervous heading into the third.
Greg Dodds got the start in net for Western and had a tough night, falling victim to bad bounces on a couple of RMC goals and having to stand through long periods without any action. In the end, he faced just 17 shots— a tough stat for a goaltender who prefers more work. But he and the Mustangs don't have time to dwell on the game, as the Ravens come to town for an early afternoon matchup fresh off of a 5-2 victory over Guelph.
"It was nice coming back and getting the legs going a little bit and getting the win," Singer said after the game. "We've got one of the best teams in the country coming in shortly so we're going to have a short turnaround here and we need to be a lot better tomorrow."
That game will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday at Thompson Arena. Carleton and Western currently each hold down top spot in their respective divisions after their victories Friday. Fans can watch all of the action live on OUA.tv
Notes
First-year players Colten Mayor and Trent Ouellette also had points, with Mayor scoring a goal and Ouellette adding an assist. In fact, all five first-year players playing contributed a point on the night— seven points total… As it stands, 16 of 18 Mustang skaters contributed points on Friday night. Look left, look right— all those people got points… Western defenceman Jed Rusk is a big man and he made his presence felt early on on Friday, laying out an RMC player with a big mid-ice hit at the opposing blue line to earn a loud cheer from the Mustangs' crowd… Singer had nothing but praise for his team's performance on their six-game road-trip heading into the break, saying "that showed a lot of character— those were six tough games… and we were shorthanded, one of the first times in my career that I don't think we dressed a full lineup, and the guys just showed tremendous heart and character and we got great goaltending."
Source: Western Mustangs
UOIT 4 @ Brock 3 (SO)
The Brock Badgers men's hockey team (8-8-2) battled back to pick up a point in a 4-3 overtime loss to the University of Technology Institute of Technology Ridgebacks (8-9-1) Friday night at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.
The Badgers trailed 3-0 in the first period before Taylor Fielding scored 16:24 into the middle stanza to break the shutout.
Brock would then two goals 61 seconds apart late in the third period to send the game to overtime, as Sammy Banga and Jordan Gignac bulged the twine for the homeside.
The first overtime period (4 on 4) solved nothing. Then 1:42 into the second extra period (3 on 3) Kevin George would beat Clint Windsor on a clear cut breakaway to seal the deal for the visitors.
The Badgers outshot the Ridgebacks 43-31 overall including 21-6 in the third period.
Jesse Stoughton and Mike Robinson on the powerplay, and Jordan Ramsay had the other UOIT goals, while Brendan O'Neil picked up the win in goal.
Brock now welcomes Queen's Saturday night to the Seymour-Hannah Centre. Game time is 7:15 pm.
Source: Brock Badgers
Windsor 4 @ Laurentian 2
The Lancer men's hockey team lost their first game of the New Year with a 4-2 road loss to the Laurentian Voyageurs on Friday night in Sudbury, ON.
The No. 7 Lancers are now 14-3-1 and are tied for first place in the OUA west division with the Western Mustangs. The Voyageurs improve to 10-5-3 and are in fifth place in the OUA east.
Laurentian took a two goal lead early in the second period with goals from Brian Nanne and Darcy Haines before the Lancers got on the board with a goal from first year Lancer Dylan Denomme. Assists were credited to Kenny Bradford and Spencer Pommells.
The hosts rebuilt their two goal lead with mere seconds left in the middle frame to take a 3-1 lead heading into the final period.
In the third, the Voyageurs once again struck first with an early goal from Beau Wiliams-Orser to secure the win for the home team.
Windsor's second goal of the game came midway through the third with Matt Beaudoin's tenth of the season.
Lancer goaltender Parker Van Buskirk made 28 saves for the Lancers, while Charlie Millen made 23 for the Voyageurs.
The two teams will face-off again on Saturday night for game two of the weekend doubleheader. Puck is set to drop at 7:30pm.
Source: Windsor Lancers
Toronto 3 @ Concordia 5
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team fell 5-3 to the Concordia Stingers on Friday, January 9 in Montreal, Que.
Concordia's Jessyco Bernard scored 19 seconds into the contest, but Toronto's Den Klomp answered the call six minutes later to even the game.
The Stingers added two more in the first period with a shorthanded marker from Olivier Hinse and a late goal from Philippe Hudon.
Marc-Olivier Brouillard put Concordia up 4-1 early in the second frame, but U of T's Christian Finch responded with a powerplay goal and Toronto trailed 4-2 heading into the final frame.
Veteran forward Jeff Brown scored shorthanded with 2:28 remaining to bring the game within one, but Concordia added an empty-netter to seal the victory.
Michael Nishi made eight saves in the first period, with Garrett Sheehan notching 24 saves over 40 minutes in the loss.
The Varsity Blues look to bounce back tomorrow afternoon as they take on the UQTR Patriotes at 2 p.m.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Carleton 5 @ Guelph 2
Guelph, Ont. - Friday night at the Gryphon Centre, the Carleton Ravens defeated the Guelph Gryphons 5-2. With the loss, the Gryphons fall to 4-11-3 while the Ravens improve to 14-4-0.
After an impressive 8-1 win over Ryerson on January 3rd to begin the new year, the Gryphons continued the good form early on Friday night as they hosted one of the top teams in the OUA. Nick Huard (North Bay, Ont.) scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season, it would also prove to be the only goal of the opening period as the Gryphons led 1-0 heading to the 2nd. Carleton would score a pair of goals in the second period to take the lead, but in the third the Gryphons would tie it up as rookie Seth Swenson (Parker, Col.) would get his first in a Gryphons uniform to tie the game at 2-2. Swenson, who also assisted on the Huard goal, finished with a two-point night, as did Gryphons second year winger Teal Burns (Victoria, BC). Unfortunately for the Gryphons however, the game would not stay tied at 2-2 for long. Just over two minutes after the Gryphons found the equalizer, the Ravens would re-take the lead thanks to a rookie of their own as Hayden Hulton (Kingston, Ont.) made it 3-2 Carleton. The Ravens, who outshot the Gryphons 32-24 on the night, would tack on two more from there, scoring a total of three goals in the third period in the span of just over five minutes.
This game marked the beginning of a three game homestand for the Gryphons, who will be back in action on Saturday night at 7:30pm when they host the 0-15-2 RMC Paladins. The homestand will conclude on Friday, January 16th when the Gryphons face Brock at the Sleeman Centre in the 6th edition of 'The Frosty Mug.'
Source: Guelph Gryphons
Saturday, January 10
Ryerson 3 @ Concordia 2
MONTREAL - In their second game in as many days, the Ryerson Rams (10-7-1) skated away with a 3-2 win against the Concordia Stingers (7-13-0) Saturday afternoon in their first matchup of the season.
With 22 penalty minutes for the Rams and 16 for the Stingers, it was nothing short of an aggressive game, but that only seemed to boost the Rams, who struck first on the powerplay as Domenic Alberga (Maple, Ont.) put his 12th goal of the season passed Stingers goalie Alexandre St-Arnaud.
Concordia captain Olivier Hinse, who is tied for most goals overall in the OUA, answered with the equalizer, scoring his 15th of the season midway through the second period.
With less than a minute left in the frame, first-year Rams defenceman Keevin Cutting (Bracebridge, Ont.) added another on the powerplay, with an assist from defensive partner Alex Basso (Toronto, Ont.).
Last year, Cutting played for the No 8. University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds. He finished with seven points in 27 games, but this season he's already picked up nine points for the Rams.
In the third, Cutting struck again on the powerplay, insuring the Rams a pair of points that didn't come yesterday against UQTR.
Antoine Houde-Caron would add a second goal for Concordia late in the game, but it wasn't enough for a comeback.
Rams goalie Troy Passingham (Mississauga, Ont.) stopped 37 of 39 shots in the win.
With the extra two points, Ryerson moves up to fourth place in the OUA west division. Their next game is at home against the Brock Badgers on Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Source: Ryerson Rams
Toronto 2 @ UQTR 6
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team fell 6-2 to the UQTR Patriotes on Saturday, January 10 in Trois-Rievieres, Que.
The first period saw the Patriotes Marc-Olivier Mimar score three minutes into the game, but the Blues veteran Jeff Brown evened the score five minutes later.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period.
UQTR's Felix Plouffe scored two in the second period to give the home team a 3-1 advantage heading into the final frame.
The Patriotes cushioned their lead with an early marker and two powerplay goals later in the third.
Toronto trailed 6-1 heading into the final minutes of the game, however Michael Markovic found the back of the net in the last three minutes of play to round out the scoring.
Fifth-year netminder Garrett Sheehan notched 32 saves in his first game back from injury.
The Varsity Blues return to the ice to take on the Ryerson Rams in Varsity Arena on January 16. The puck drops at 7p.m.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Carleton 5 @ Western 2
LONDON, Ont. – Carleton backstop Patrick Killeen put on a show Saturday afternoon, turning aside 31 shots and making a number of timely saves to help his Ravens hand the Western Mustangs their first home loss of the 2014-15 season by a score of 5-2 at Thompson Arena.
While, at first glance, Killeen's 31 saves on 33 shots may not sound particularly spectacular, he was single-handedly responsible for keeping momentum on Carleton's side at various points throughout the game. And as Mustangs' head coach Clarke Singer was quick to note after the game, he played a big part in keeping one of the top power plays in the OUA off the board.
"Carleton's an elite team in our league— they've got a great system, they've got some great penalty killers, and often times your best penalty killer is your goaltender," said Singer. "I thought we had a number of real good looks but [Killeen] was there, he collected the rebounds and was their best penalty killer I thought tonight."
After a Friday night that saw the Mustangs go three-for-three with the man advantage, Saturday's zero-for-six performance seemed to be one of the major reasons for Western's struggles. The closest that the Mustangs got to scoring on the power play was Stephen Gaskin's second period goal, which saw him step in from the point and rip a wrist-shot over Killeen to make the score 3-2.
"I thought that was the difference," Singer responded when asked about the importance of scoring on the power play. "If we would have been able to get a power play goal we wouldn't have had to chase the game—we were kind of chasing the game almost all night."
The only point in the game that the Mustangs weren't chasing was in the first frame, when Matt Marantz opened the scoring just over four minutes in with a goal in close. Marantz' chance was a result of a point-shot from Matt Paltridge— a shot that went wide and bounced off the end board to his teammate and fellow 'Matt' in front of the net.
But Western would end up chasing the game soon after that, and Carleton's Ryan Van Stralen and Joey West would make sure that the scoreboard would reflect that late in the period.
Van Stralen netted one of the more impressive goals of the night just over 15 minutes in, bumping off the Western defender on the rush to create some space and using it to rifle a shot off the crossbar and in. West followed that goal up with one of his own a minute later to give the Ravens their first lead of the afternoon and one they wouldn't relinquish for the rest of the contest.
Joe Pleckaitis made that lead 3-1 just over 42 seconds into the second frame, receiving a breakaway pass from teammate Sean Bamford and taking it in for the goal. More than one of the Ravens' goals came on the break in the game, something Singer wasn't happy about afterwards.
"You can't allow goals like that," said Singer. "We talked about it— their speed, stretching out on us— we talked about it a number of times. Just tough plays, you can't have breakdowns like that and obviously they were in the net."
Although Gaskin would pull the Mustangs within one goal just over ten minutes later, the Ravens would need just a minute to respond, with Van Stralen potting his second of the day on a tip with 7:45 left in the middle frame. The only goal of the third period would be an empty netter off the stick of Corey Durocher, his third tally of the season.
Not only was the loss Western's first at home this season, it was the first time in eleven games that the Mustangs had failed to get at least a point. Thanks in large part to that long streak, Western entered the game ranked first in the OUA West but, although he noted that it would have been nice to get a point, Singer wasn't putting too much worth into records post-game.
"We're a long way from being the team I think can be, despite what our record is [and] despite how many points we have," said Singer. "So we're going to keep moving forward, we're going to keep working hard, we're not going to change the plan too much. Obviously it's a tough loss and hopefully we come back with a little bit of energy and the motors going on Monday when we practice given the score, but still a great group of kids in that room.
"We've got to keep working on what we're doing and we're not going to throw the baby out with the bath water per say," he added.
Western's next chance to get back on the winning side will come at home next week when they welcome both York and Toronto to Thompson Arena. Puck drop for Friday is set for 7 p.m. while Saturday's game will get started at 7:30 p.m. Fans can watch both live on OUA.tv.
Notes
After Steve Reese celebrated a birthday Friday it was former London Knight and first-year Mustang Jake Worrad's turn on Saturday… Western celebrated 'Rock the Rink' on Saturday afternoon in front of a full house of fans. Not even a brilliant performance from the Ravens' goaltender could put a damper on the events, as Western University president Amit Chaka stopped by to drop the ceremonial first puck and both the Mustangs' marching band—who did a stellar job for the second night in a row— and a live band helped pump up the crowd. Western's figure skating team also put on a performance during the intermission, while the Junior Mustangs took to the ice before action even got started for a game of their own.
Source: Western Mustangs
McGill 1 @ Waterloo 2
Forget seven – on Saturday night, the Waterloo Warriors' lucky number was eight.
Mike Moffat (Waterloo) and Chris Chappell (Pickering) scored third-period goals to lead the Warriors to their eighth straight win, as they toppled the eighth-ranked McGill Redmen 2-1 on Saturday night at the Columbia Icefield Arena in Waterloo.
It was Waterloo's twelfth win of the season, matching their win total from each of the past two seasons. The victory moves the Warriors to 12-6-1, good for third place in the OUA West division. Meanwhile, the loss was McGill's second in a row, as they fell to 13-5-0 on the season. The Redmen are still looking for their first win of 2015.
Waterloo goaltender Mike Morrison (Hamilton) continued his hot streak, making 32 stops in the win. Since being pulled in a game against Nipissing on November 1, Morrison is 7-1 with a 2.20 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage. Karel St-Laurent took the loss for McGill, turning aside 31 shots in defeat.
It was one of the rare days where the conditions inside the frigid Columbia Icefield Arena were warmer than outdoors, and the visitors looked cold in the game's opening shifts. But as the period wore on, the ice began to tilt against the Warriors, and Morrison was called on to fend off the McGill advances. Finally, with 14 seconds left in the first frame, the Redmen got on the board when leading scorer Cedric McNicoll beat Morrison through the five-hole for a 1-0 McGill lead after 20 minutes.
The middle stanza was a textbook entry in playing with the lead on the road, as the Warriors couldn't generate anything offensively. The most noteworthy occurrence of the goalless second period was a scary moment involving Warriors captain Joe Underwood (Canton), who caught a Morrison clearing attempt in the mouth and was down for several minutes.
Bloodied, bandaged, and sporting a full cage, Underwood's third-period return seemed to rejuvenate his mates. The Warriors came hard and fast in the final frame, and they finally found the board when Moffat jumped into the rush as the trailer, took an Anthony Tapper (Marmora) feed, and ripped a high wrister home to even the score at 1-1.
Then, with less than five minutes to play in regulation, Waterloo's newly –formed top trio struck for the eventual game-winner. Hitting the neutral zone with speed, Matt Kennedy (Oro Medonte) made a cross-ice feed to Colin Behenna (Waterloo). With his time and space being eliminated quickly, Behenna made a gorgeous pass to a streaking Chappell, who fired a snap shot past St-Laurent before crashing into the boards.
The Warriors endured a white-knuckle finish that included two icing calls while the McGill net was empty, but the Warriors got some key shot-blocks in the closing seconds to secure the win.
Waterloo will now prepare for their first road contests of 2015, with a pair of contests against East division opponents next weekend. First, the Warriors will face the UOIT Ridgebacks on Friday, before taking on the Queen's Gaels on Saturday night. Puck drop for both games is set for 7:30pm.
Notes: The Warriors went 0-3 on the power play, while McGill went 1-for-4…Warriors forward Tommy Tsicos (Barrie) made his CIS debut, while Sam Caldwell (Cape Breton) returned from his out-of-province co-op work placement to play in his first game since November 15, 2013…This was Underwood's 100th career regular-season game, in which he has 15 goals and 72 points.
Source: Waterloo Warriors
UOIT 2 @ York 5
The York University Lions men's hockey team achieved a 5-2 victory over the UOIT Ridgebacks on Saturday (Jan. 10) at Canlan Ice Sports for its second straight victory to start the new year.
An early goal by the Lions shocked the visitors, who pressured offensively early in the period. Michael Santini (Woodbridge, Ont.) retrieved the puck from his own end and skated all the way to the opposition's ice. Santini showed good skill controlling the puck past defenders and driving the shot home at 1:26. Connor Hale (Whitby, Ont.) and Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) were credited with the assists.
Confusion at the Ridgebacks' defence led to another Lions goal in the middle of the frame. Adam Logozzo (Woodbridge, Ont.) and Sheppard took advantage of the disorder and intercepted the play at centre ice. Rookie forward Reid Jackman (Etobicoke, Ont.) clinically finished the play from an accurate pass by Sheppard.
The Ridgebacks conceded a third from a Lions power play. Tyler McGee (Timmins, Ont.) shot past goalie Brendan O'Neill for his third goal of the season. Shane Rover (Newmarket, Ont.) made the pass that led to the goal.
The Lions carried their 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
At the start of the second period, both teams were equally matched. The Ridgebacks suffered from another power play goal by the Lions at 14:47. Rover released a powerful shot from distance that hit the top of the bar and into the net. Santini and Mitch VanTeeling (Brandon, Man.) supported the play.
Less than two minutes later, York goaltender Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) deflected a shot by the Ridgebacks' Jordon Ramsay, but James Woodcroft was there to sabotage Perugini's shutout bid by tapping the puck into the next and putting UOIT on the board, at 4-1.
The Lions responded with a fifth goal through rookie forward Greg Milner (Watford, Ont.). Under a minute left towards the second intermission, Kyle Campbell (Halifax, N. S.) and Rover challenged the visitors' defence before Milner found the net with 25 seconds left on the clock.
Milner's goal made the score 5-1 in favour of the home team heading into the final frame.
A relentless Ridgebacks team continued to push forward. Woodcroft recorded his second goal of the night just one minute into the third period after pressuring Perugini heavily.
Milner had another chance on target towards the final buzzer but his shot was blocked by several defenders diving in.
The victory improved the Lions' record to 8-10-1 on the year and they are seventh in the OUA West standings with 17 points. UOIT now has the same record as the Lions and also sit seventh in the OUA East.
The Lions will be in London, Ont., to face the Western Mustangs on Friday (Jan. 16) at 7pm in their next contest.
Source: York Lions
Lakehead 5 @ Nipissing 1
Hoping for a big bounce back effort after last night's loss, the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team was unable to solve the Lakehead Thunderwolves yet again.
Friday night, the T'Wolves jumped out to a quick start and scored twice within the opening few minutes and Saturday, it happened again.
The Lakers found themselves down 2-0 before the four minute mark of the first period and trailed 3-0 after one period.
Friday, Nipissing was able to mount a comeback and while they tried Saturday – Erik Robichaud scored for the fourth straight – Lakehead clamped down and padded their lead.
Matt Paton drew the other assist on the Lakers lone goal of the evening.
Robichaud's power play goal, which came off a deflection of a Jimmy McDowell point shot, cut the T'Wolves lead to 3-1, but that was all the offence the Lakers could muster.
Lakehead would add two more goals in the third period to put the game out of reach and walk away with all four points on the weekend.
Nipissing ended up outshooting Lakehead by two, but was unable to turn those shots into goals.
The Lakers now have a weekend off before preparing for a date with their northern rivals, the Laurentian Voyageaurs, set for Jan. 23 in North Bay.
Source: Nipissing Lakers
Queens 4 @ Brock 6
The Brock Badgers men's hockey team (9-8-2) earned an important three point weekend after defeating the Queen's Gaels (8-10-1) 6-4 Saturday night at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.
The Badgers lost in double overtime to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks 4-3 on Friday.
In Saturday's win Brock opened a 3-0 first period lead. Sammy Banga paced the Badgers with two goals and one assist, while Andrew Radjenovic had two goals. Taylor Fielding and Gregory Jambrosich added singles. Kaine Geldart chipped in with two helpers.
Banga now leads Brock in goals with 11, while Radjenovic is tops in points with 24.
Clint Windsor made 36 saves to pick up the win in goal.
"I thought the start of the game was key for us with Daniel Zweep, Ryan Purvis and Spencer Turcotte all throwing body checks," said Badgers assistant coach Mike Macdonald. "That was a great energy line all night. Taylor Fielding was strong as well, and our defence as a whole was good. Windsor played strong, and our powerplay was better than Friday. A three point weekend is definitely good for the team."
Brock now visits Ryerson on Thursday night and Guelph on Friday before welcoming Western on Wednesday night January 21st. Game time at the Seymour-Hannah Centre is 7:15 pm.
Source: Brock Badgers
RMC 1 @ Guelph 11
Guelph, Ont. – Saturday night at the Gryphon Centre the Gryphons scored seven goals in the first period and cruised to an 11-1 win over RMC. With the win, the Gryphons improve to 5-11-3 while RMC remains winless at 0-16-2.
Kyle Neuber (Sarnia, ON) started the onslaught for the Gryphons as he opened the scoring a minute and a half into the game. Just over a minute and a half after that, the Gryphons doubled their lead as Leonard Fabbri (Mississauga, ON) found the back of the net. Neuber would score his second of the game to give Guelph a 3-0 lead just six and a half minutes in, and you had the feeling this one could get ugly for RMC. Coming off a two-point game the night before versus Carleton, Seth Swenson (Parker, COL) would score for Guelph to make it 4-0. Jordan Mock (Dartmouth, NS) decided he wanted in on the fun as he rang a shot off the cross bar and in for his fifth goal of the season. 30 seconds later, Trevor Morbeck (Jackson, WIS) added his own for a 6-0 score. Before the end of the opening period, the Gyrphons would make it 7 as Ryan Strand (Invermere, BC) scored to put the Gryphons up a touchdown heading to the second.
The second period got underway and this time it took Guelph just over 4 minutes to score as Fabbri gets his second of the night from a nice behind-the-net feed from Teal Burns (Victoria, BC) making the game 8-0. Despite the lopsided score, RMC's starting goalie Evan Deviller (Sackville, NB) was doing his best, making one great save after another. But he could only do so much.
In the third period, Robert De Fulvis (Toronto, ON) scored his first of the night on a beautiful pass from Fabbri. Guelph would add two more as Nicklas Huard (North Bay, ON) and Jordan Mock would cap off a huge night for the Gryphon offense as they exploded for a season-high 11 goals. The RMC Paladins would spoil the shutout bid by scoring on the power play in the third period to make the final score 11-1.
Fabbri finished with a five point night (two goals, three assists), Robert De Fulviis had a three point night (one goal, two assists) and both Kyle Neuber and Jordan Mock netted a pair of goals.
The next time the Gryphons take the ice, it will be in front of their largest crowd of the season. The 6th edition of 'The Frosty Mug' is set for Friday, January 16th as the Gryphons will host Brock at the Sleeman Centre. Puck drop is set for 7:30pm and tickets are available at the Athletic Centre as well as online at gryphons.ca/tickets
Source: Guelph Gryphons
Windsor 4 @ Laurentian 1
The No.7 Lancer men's hockey team rebounded on Saturday night to defeat the Laurentian Voyageurs 4-1 in game two the weekend doubleheader.
With the win, Windsor improves to 15-3-1 and reclaim first place in the OUA West Division, while the Voyaguers fall to 10-6-3 and are in fifth in the east division.
The Lancers got on the board right out of the gate with a goal just 21 seconds into the game with a goal from captain Drew Palmer. Just four minutes later, the Blue & Gold added another one when Ryan Green accepted a pass from Matt Beaudoin and Scott Prier to put the Lancers up by two.
Laurentian would cut the Lancers lead to one before the end of the period with a power play goal at 14:10 of the period by Dylan Fitze.
Green scored his second of the game, and the lone goal of the middle period to once again give Windsor a two goal lead heading into the third period.
Laurentian turned on the pressure in the third, but Lancer goaltender Parker Van Buskirk stood tall between the pipes and maintained the Lancer lead. Van Buskirk finished the game with 34 saves.
Windsor's fourth goal came on an empty netter from Beaudoin when the Voyaguers pulled their goaltender in favour of the extra attacker in the final minutes of the game.
Windsor will now return home for a doubleheader against the Concordia Stingers. The puck will drop on both Friday and Saturday night at 7:30pm at South Windsor Arena.
Source: Windsor Lancers
Sunday, January 11
McGill 6 @ Laurier 2
