AROUND OUA: Ming's third period marker holds as Queen's upsets No. 5 UQTR

SCOREBOARD

Queen's 4 @ UQTR 3

Brock 3 @ Western 2

Carleton 2 @ Lakehead 3

York 4 @ Windsor 0

Waterloo 3 @ Ryerson 2

UOIT 5 @ Concordia 5

Laurentian 3 @ McGill 4

Ming's third period marker holds up as winner in upset of CIS No. 5 UQTR

TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. (January 8, 2016) - Queen's (11-4-0) stormed back after an early two goal deficit in the opening frame to take the game 4-3 on the road at No. 5 UQTR Patriotes (15-2-1). 

GAME FLOW

The Gaels and most of the OUA were on break most of December, while Head Coach Brett Gibson, d-man Spencer Abraham (Campbellville, Ont.), and goalie Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) participated in the CIS and World Junior All-Star matchup in Toronto. The Partiotes came into the game tied in first for in the OUA East standings. 

It took some time for the Gaels to get their feet wet after the holiday break, giving up the opening goal less than two minutes in to Marc-Olivier Milmar. UQTR kept up the pace in the opening frame, and scored another just four minutes later to take a 2-0 lead into the second period. 

The Gaels wouldn't let the early deficit keep them down though as 3:05 into the frame Abraham scored his sixth of the year to cut the Patriote lead in half. Minutes later Abraham chipped in on a powerplay marker by Patrick McGillis (Calgary), his ninth of the season. Before the second ended the teams traded goals, each converting once more before the end of 40 minutes. First the Patriotes jumped out to the 3-2 lead with a goal by Carl-Antoine Delisle, then a goal by Harrison Hendrix (Calgary) tied things up at three just over a minute later. 

With the game tied 3-3, both teams looked to jump in front early. While it took almost nine minutes to do so, Queen's took their first lead of the game as Eric Ming (Williamstown, Ont.) scored his ninth of the year. The Gaels locked things down the rest of the way, only allowing nine shots on goal in the third period and taking the game 4-3, completing the comeback and upset in Trois-Rivieres.

Source: Queen's Gaels

New-look Mustangs fall to Badgers at Thompson Arena

LONDON, Ont. – If Western looked like a team playing together for the first time against the Badgers on Friday night, it's because in many ways they were.
 
Brock took advantage of a slow start from a Mustang team that featured six players with three or less games under their belt this season and Badger backstop Clint Windsor made a number of key saves late in the third to preserve a 3-2 victory at Thompson Arena.
 
"There's not much more you can do," said Mustangs assistant coach David Kontzie of Western's late push. "We threw probably eight shots in the last minute at the net, one or two got behind the goaltender but we just couldn't get it across the line. That's what happens when you leave it to the last minute of the game to try and catch up."
 
In total, four players made their 2015-16 debut for Western on Friday. Mike DiPaolo, Stephen Sanza, Robert Polesello, and Cody Brown all suited up for the first time while Jed Rusk and Noah Schwartz were playing in their second and third games, respectively.
 
All six of those players managed to make an impact on the game: DiPaolo showcased his strength, Rusk his reach, Sanza and Polesello their high-end skill, and Brown and Schwartz their shiftiness and offensive foresight. But the Badgers came out of the gate sharper, scoring twice in the first, and by the time Western started clicking in the third period it was too late.
 
Of the fresh faces, Brown stood out as particularly impressive, especially considering that he hadn't played in a game since Western's matchup against Brock on January 21, 2015. He went bar down for his first of the season on Friday and now has five points through just five full games with the Mustangs.
 
"It's great to see," Kontzie said of Brown's play on Friday. "There's a player that's had a lot of terrible luck in his first year and a half or whatever with injuries. To see him step up back into the lineup and make an impact is great to see."
 
"I've had a lot of bad luck the last two years but it's good to be back," said Brown. "It's good to get the first one out of the way and it's good to be back with the guys too."
 
Peter Delmas continued to show off his elite skill in net for Western, making a number of excellent saves with the game on the line. With time winding down in the second period, he made a breakaway stop on Ryan Purvis, denying him a hat trick, before committing more highway robbery just a minute later with two straight saves in tight.
 
Delmas finished with 34 saves on 37 shots while his counterpart in Windsor made 17 saves in the third period alone to bring his total to 40 saves on the night. Windsor, a sophomore for the Badgers, now possesses a .927 save percentage through 13 games this season.
 
Neither team cashed in on the man advantage, although Brock still benefitted immensely from Western's six minutes of penalties early in the third period. Ray Huether took a four-minute high sticking penalty in the offensive zone before Alex Micallef was called for interference 11:11 into the frame, allowing Brock to keep the focus out of their own zone.
 
For their part, the Badgers took their own high sticking call late in the third, although it didn't prove to be costly. With Delmas pulled, the Mustangs got off nearly ten shots on Windsor, although they just couldn't find the back of the net.
 
"We've been working on the power play quite a bit and we had some great looks," said Kontzie. "We moved the puck around the way we wanted to, got pucks to the net. It was just one of those nights the puck didn't go into the net for us."
 
Next up on the docket for Western is a trip to Waterloo, where they'll face off against the Laurier Golden Hawks with a chance to split the weekend on the line.
 
"The approach that we had in the last five minutes [of tonight's game], we need that approach from the get-go," said Kontzie when asked about Saturday's game. "[We need to] come out, play better systems, we have to get the puck to the net, have to eliminate the two-on-ones, three-on-ones against us and play a full sixty minutes."
 
NOTES
With an assist on Friday, Schwartz now has a point in all three of the games that he's played this season. He's one year removed from an impressive 21-point campaign and will be a key piece if Western is to have a playoff run this year… Brock's Ryan Purvis led all skaters with three points on Friday, scoring two goals and adding an assist…

Source: Western Mustangs

Wolves bite Ravens

The 1,957 fans that showed up at the Fort William Gardens Friday night saw one of the most exciting games in recent memory as the Lakehead Thunderwolves took down the Carleton Ravens and skated off with a 3-2 victory over the 8th ranked team in the country.

The game was filled with great goaltending, plenty of scoring chances, loads of hard hits, 110 minutes in penalties and a good old-fashioned donnybrook.

Lakehead controlled most of the play in the first period, and Cody Alcock gave the Wolves a 1-0 lead on a goal set up by Dylan Butler and Jake Wright 12:06 into the game.

With Lakehead on the power play, Billy Jenkins fed Jake Ringuette who blasted a point shot past Ravens' netminder Patrick Killeen with a minute left on the clock to give the Wolves a 2-0 lead heading into the second.

Michael McNamee converted a perfect tic-tac-toe play that Lakehead goalie Devin Green had no chance on while Carleton held the man-advantage 4:57 into the middle frame.

The Ravens seemed to get their legs back and were gaining momentum as the period wore on, but Green was equal to the task whenever he was called upon.

With less than two minutes to go in the second, Carleton's Owen Werthner cross-checked Brennen Dubchak into the boards at the Ravens end of the rink, raising the ire of Brennen's brother Carson and a melee ensued.

Killeen left his goal crease to join the fray, which was highlighted by an exchange of blows between Lakehead's Linden Springer and Carleton's Hayden Hulton.  Springer definitely held the advantage in the showdown, and all three were subsequently ejected from the game.

Kelin Ainsworth put the Wolves up 3-1 at 16:25 of the third by firing the puck high on the blocker side of Francis Dupuis, who had replaced Killeen in the Ravens' net.  Jenkins picked up his second helper of night and Jay Gilbert was also credited with an assist.

Carleton pulled Dupuis for an extra attacker in the waning minutes and Brett Welychka scored on a screen shot with five seconds left on the clock, but it was too little, too late for the Ravens and Lakehead held on for the win.

Shots on goal for the night were 32-29 for Carleton.

The Molson Three Stars of the game were:

1. Devin Green, Lakehead
2. Jake Ringuette, Lakehead
3. Kelin Ainsworth, Lakehead

The two teams will square off again tomorrow night at the Fort William Gardens beginning at 7:00 PM.

Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves

Perugini earns shutout in 4-0 win over Windsor

On Friday night (Jan. 8) the York University Lions men's hockey team defeated the Windsor Lancers with a convincing 4-0 victory at Windsor Arena thanks to a 34-save performance by goaltender Chris Perugini.
 
Adding another win to their 11-5-3 record on the year, the Lions are currently seated at the top of the OUA West with 26 points.
 
The first period remained scoreless, but the Lions soon executed off of several chances in the second period that gave them a 3-0 lead.
 
Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) opened the scoring after receiving the puck from Julien Lepage (Baie-Comeau, Que.) at 5:20, and slammed it past the guard of Lancers goaltender Richard Blake.
 
Minutes later Justin Larson (Buckhorn, Ont.), Greg Milner (Watford, Ont.) and Sheppard teamed up to put two power play goals between the bars at 6:35 and 13:54. Larson and Milner were credited with a goal and assist each, while Sheppard picked up two assists.
 
In the third period the Lions put the game to rest after Tyler McGee (Timmins, Ont.) passed the puck to Nicholas Geiser (Bolton, Ont.), who in turn slammed it home for a 4-0 victory.
 
Perugini (King City, Ont.) earned his second shutout of the season, while Blake made 36 saves on 40 shots.
 
Within the next week the Lions will prepare to take on the Brock Badgers at 7:15pm on Friday (Jan. 15). The game will take place in St. Catharines, Ont., at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.

Source: York Lions

Waterloo scores twice late to upend Ryerson