Lions crush Thunderwolves in Game 3 to advance to next round
NORTH YORK, Ont. - The York University Lions men's hockey team hosted Game 3 of the first round of OUA playoffs against the Lakehead Thunderwolves Sunday night and pulled out all the stops for a big home ice win by a score of 5-1 at Canlan Ice Sports.
The Lions started the game off incredibly strong, scoring two goals in the first four minutes of the opening period. Less than two minutes into the first, Ben Verrall scored with the assistance of Daniel Nikandrov and Nik Coric. Exactly two minutes later, Morgan Messenger added his second goal of the series with help from teammates Trevor Petersen and Kyle Campbell.
As a result of their efforts, the Lions took an early 2-0 lead over their opponents.
The Thunderwolves had plenty of opportunities to score when the Lions had two men serving penalties at the same time, but nothing transpired during that tense minute of overlap. This was largely due to the stellar goaltending Mack Shields is known for.
He had abundant assistance from captain Shayne Rover – who at one point ended up behind a fallen Shields to ensure the puck stayed out of the net – to ward off the Thunderwolves until the 16:10 mark of the period. At this time, the Thunderwolves were able to score their first goal of the game from Cooper Leitch, who was assisted by Jonathan Masters. The period ended 2-1 in favour of the Lions.
The second period didn't see a goal until 8:54, when Derek Sheppard scored on a power play. Petersen added his second assist of the game on this goal while Messenger had his first, which brought the Lions back to a two-goal lead at 3-1.
In a tense final couple of minutes in the second period, both teams had two players each serving penalties. This certainly didn't slow down the action on the ice as both teams played ferociously to the close of the period, though no additional goals were scored.
Reid Jackman continued the Lions' success by adding a goal at 8:50 in the third period. Assisting him were Sal Filice and Scott Feser to bring the score to 4-1. Towards the end of the period, Stefano Pezzetta put in the Lions' fifth goal of the game with the aid of Alex Mowbray and Campbell. This would be the final goal of the game to clinch the series for the Lions.
The Lions have now advanced to the OUA quarter-finals and will host the Ryerson Rams in another best-of-three series beginning on Wednesday night at Canlan Ice Sports. Puck drop is set for 7pm.
Source: York Lions