TORONTO – Waterloo Warriors leading scorer Colin Behenna blasted home a late third period goal to give the Warriors a 3-2 win over the Ryerson Rams Friday night.
BOXSCORE
Behenna received a pass from behind the net and buried it in front with just three minutes remaining in the third. The goal gave the Warriors their first lead of the game and ended up being the game winner in what was a back and forth affair.
The Rams started things off in this one with Michael Fine's tenth of the year. Fine's power play marker was his fourth goal in two games and gave the Rams a 1-0 lead through twenty.
The Warriors then evened things up in the second. Cam Nicoll flew down the short side and wristed one past starting goaltender Taylor Dupuis for his second of the year. The Warriors marker was the lone goal in the second and set up what was a thrilling third period.
All tied up at one, Mitch Gallant decided to take matters into his own hands with his fourth goal of the year. Gallant whacked home a loose puck in front past Warriors starting goaltender Mike Morrison to regain the Rams one goal lead.
The lead was short lived however, after Joey Champigny beat Dupuis just 22 seconds later. Champigny's fourth of the year evened things at two and paved the way for a nail biting finish.
With one swift motion, Warriors Behenna was deemed the hero, and gave the Waterloo Warriors a 3-2 win over Ryerson.
With the win the Warriors improve to 2-0 against the Rams this season and tie them for fifth in the OUA West division with 18 points on the year.
The loss is indeed a tough one to take for the Rams but head coach Graham Wise hopes it's a lesson learned.
“Like I said to them in the room, we have to be good,” insisted Wise. “We need to do a better job with moving pucks and we're going to work on it. We're a good team and we're going to be fine but we need to come ready to play every game.”
No matter how tough the loss is at first, a five-year veteran like Gallant knows you just need to learn from it and move on.
“It comes down to work ethic,” said Gallant. “After giving up a goal you know they're going to send their best line at us and they did. These things happen and we just need to learn from it and stay in the right mindset moving forward.”
The Rams will now turn their focus to next weekend and prepare for a visit north to take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
They play the Thunderwolves in back-to-back affairs starting on the Friday, January 15 and finishing on the Saturday, January 16. Both matches are scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start at Fort William Gardens.
