M-HOCKEY ROUNDUP: Gaels snap Warriors win streak at 9 games

Friday, January 16

York 2 @ Western 3 (OT)

LONDON, Ont. — Cody Brown stuffed in a Stefan Salituro rebound just over a minute into overtime and Marc Nother turned aside 41 of the 43 shots he faced on Friday night to lead the Mustangs over the York Lions by a score of 3-2 at Thompson Arena.
 
York tied the game late in the third period to force extra time, getting two goals from Jordan Forfar and Michael Santini with goalie Chris Perugini pulled. After the match, Nother spoke about pulling out the tight win.
 
"It was a tough one at the end there but I think we played 58 solid minutes and then just two minutes at the end there went a little sideways," said Nother with a laugh. "I mean we got the win, so that's all that matters."
 
That win was Norther's fourth in as many appearances this season, and the solid performance helped improve his season save percentage to an excellent .926. Western now holds a record of 15-4-1 on the year after losing their first game of 2015 to Carleton last Saturday.
 
"I thought our recipe was good, I thought the guys applied what we wanted to do and I thought we had a great defensive effort except for the last minute and a half," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer. "You know it's tough, you're upset about how it goes, but when they've got an extra guy on the ice it's tough to defend that."
 
The opening period was a fast one, with the teams trading chances for the majority of play and forcing turnovers. As a result, any extended momentum was hard to come by, especially at five-on-five. York would catch the first break of the game, getting a power play just over five minutes into the game, but Western was able to neutralize both of their units.
 
When Western finally got their first power play of the period just under 14 minutes in, they had a couple of chances from the face-off dot and the point but found themselves unable to establish any significant pressure for the better part of the man advantage. Then, with just nine seconds left in the penalty, Colten Mayor would cash in on a nice cross-crease pass from Noah Schwartz, sliding the puck between Perugini's outstretched legs.
 
But Perugini ensured that the Mustangs wouldn't head into the intermission with any more than a one goal lead, however, making a number of nice scramble saves late in the period as Western pressed to capitalize on their momentum. He finished the first frame with 13 saves on 14 shots, and would end up with 39 saves on the night.
 
He continued his solid play into the second period, when the Mustangs would capitalize on their newfound momentum by firing another 14 shots his way. On the other end, Western was able to limit York's chances and got some great contributions on defence, highlighted by a nice sliding block from sophomore defence man Colin MacDonald.
 
Stefan Salituro would spoil Perugini's frame with just under four minutes left, however, jumping on a Kyle De Coste rebound on the man advantage to put Western up by a pair. Salituro almost didn't get the puck in the open net, losing his footing as he went to shoot, but he still found a way to lift the puck up and over Perugini for his eleventh tally of the year.
 
"I kind of fanned on it," Salituro said post-game of the shot that got him the goal. "It kind of bounced up— it was a bouncing puck— but it hit the top of my stick and kind of rain bowed into the net so a little bit lucky but I'll take it."
 
In the third frame it would be Nother who would see the majority of pressure, as the Lions made him work for his win with a number of high quality chances. He stopped a breakaway just under five minutes in, extending his pad to keep the wrist shot out, before stopping a wraparound and another shot from in close before the ten minute mark of the frame.
 
The final ten minutes were no different, as York used a pair of power play opportunities to keep the pressure on. With the goalie pulled they were finally able to slip two goals past an exhausted Nother, who finished the frame with a game-high 24 shots against.
 
"Marc had a great game," said coach Singer. "He's done that for us all year and we wanted to get him back in the net and he got another win for us so he was probably one of our best players tonight."
 
Next up for Western is a game in Toronto tomorrow, as the Mustangs hit the road for a matchup against the Varsity Blues at Varsity Arena. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. and all the action can be watched on OUA.tv. After the game, Singer spoke about what he expected from U of T.
 
"We don't often come out of that rink with a win in my tenure at Western," he said. "So it's a very difficult place to play, [head coach Darren Lowe] does a great job with his team there at U of T and it's going to be a very similar game as tonight, very physical and hard working and we're going to need to be as good as we were tonight."
 
Notes
 
York's Michael Santini extended point streak to nine games on Friday. His is the longest running in the OUA and has seen him compile seven goals and six assists for 13 points… Steve Reese and Julian Cimadamore entered the game tied for the league lead in power play goals at six, but neither of them factored into Western's success on this night… With 600 shots against, Perugini entered the game as the second-most peppered goaltender in the OUA (behind Ryerson backstop and 'world's busiest man' Troy Passingham) and had faced 40 plus shots five times. With 42 shots on Friday, that number is now at six…

Source: Western Mustangs

MONTREAL -- Forward Jonathan Bonneau scored the game-winner and goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard made 27 saves to post his first shutout of the season as ninth-ranked McGill blanked No.8-Carleton 2-0 in a crucial OUA East men's hockey match-up between two of Canada's elite teams before a raucous Winter Carnival crowd of 1,269 at McConnell Arena, Friday.

The Redmen, who improved to 13-0 lifetime in their version of the Winter Classic (see chart below), handed the Ravens their first shutout of the season, a tall order for anyone against the high-scoring Ravens, who entered the contest ranked sixth in the nation with 4.16 goals per game. It was also the fifth consecutive win for McGill in as many meetings in their heated rivalry with the Ravens, including three straight post-season victories last spring. The Redmen are now 27-20-1 lifetime against Carleton.

More importantly, the result knocked Carleton out of first place in the division, leaving both teams with identical 15-5-0 records, two points in arrears of division-leading UQTR (15-2-2).  Should the teams end up tied in the standings, McGill holds the tie-breaker against the Ravens with a 2-0 record. The Redmen are 0-1 against UQTR and have one critical contest remaining against the Pats, in Trois-Rivieres on Jan. 28.

Bonneau, a native of Sherbrooke, Que., who transferred to McGill for a master's degree last fall after playing for St. Thomas University in Fredericton, brought the crowd to its feet when he connected for his third of the season at 15:23 of the opening frame. He pounced on a rebound after freshman blueliner Dominic Poulin of Ancienne-Lorette, Que., one-timed a cross-ice feed from Etienne Boutet, a sophomore defenceman from St. Redempteur, Que.

That goal held up until the 6:03 mark of the final period when Bonneau set up Poulin who found Neil Prokup of Winnipeg to cap a nifty three-way passing play for the insurance marker with his fourth of the campaign.

"Joe Bonneau has been real good since the start of the semester," said Kelly Nobes, who improved his CIS coaching record to 280-227-14 overall, including a 140-59-3 mark behind the Redmen bench. "He's moving his feet well, creating chances with his speed and playing the whole 200 feet. It was good to see him get a big goal on a rebound tonight. I'm happy for him and if he keeps going like that, that's a real plus for the team."

The game featured a rare matchup between CIS goalies who both had a playing stint in the American Hockey League. Gervais-Chouinard, a native of Sherbrooke, who had a tryout with the Montreal Canadiens farm team in Hamilton, improved to 9-3-0 in OUA play. He currently leads the CIS in both goals-against average (1.76) and save percentage (.942).

Patrick Killeen, who had a stint with the Penguins farm team in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, took the loss between the pipes for Carleton, which had a 27-22 edge in shots.

"We were structurally sound tonight, especially in the third period, where we paid attention to small details," added Nobes. "That's important in tight games and I didn't think we were as sound as we needed to be last weekend when we lost 2-1 at Waterloo. Obviously our penalty-killing unit was outstanding tonight. The boys paid the price when they needed to and we got some good goaltending from 'Shewy', when we needed it."

Both teams were 0-for-5 on the power-play, although the Redmen essentially tallied both of their goals just as penalties had expired.McGill improved their penalty-killing success rate to.891, which leads the OUA and ranks second in the nation.

McGill had a 37-28-2 advantage on faceoffs, thanks in large part to centres Marc-Olivier Vachon (14-6-1) and Cedric McNicoll (14-7-0).

McGill (15-5-0) travels to Kingston on Saturday, where they will play winless RMC (0-16-3) at Constantine Arena in a 7 p.m. start. The game is slated to be webcast on OUA TV.

Source: McGill Redmen

Concordia 3 @ Windsor 6

The No. 6 Lancer men's hockey team was back in Windsor for their first home game of 2015 Friday night at South Windsor Arena. The Lancers won the first game of a weekend double header against the Concordia Stingers 6-3.
 
Windsor came out hard right from the start and Dylan Seguin scored the Lancers first goal only 28 seconds into the game. Concordia battled back to tie the score when Antoine Houde-Caron buried a rebound.
 
In the second, the Lancers were led by Drew Palmer on the power play as he put one past Robin Billingham, with assists from Kenny Bradford and Spencer Pommells.
 
Although Seguin was sent to the box to give Concordia a power play, Windsor's JC Houde sped down the ice after a dump in and found the back of the net for an unassisted short-handed goal to put the Lancers up 3-1.
 
Concordia's captain Olivier Hinse added a power play goal in the second period, and Eric Noel put in a rebound for the Lancers to make the score 4-2 at the end of the second.
 
Mike Cristou scored on a nice pass from Blake Blondeel to open the third period, putting Windsor up 5-2. Windsor controlled most of the play in the third period, but Concordia kept fighting and on the power play, Dany Potvin was able to put one past VanBuskirk. Sebastian Beauregard added a final goal for the Lancer's with under two minutes to play to make the final score 6-3.
 
The Lancers are back at South Windsor Arena tomorrow night at 7:30 for the second of the double header vs Concordia.

Source: Windsor Lancers

Laurier 3 @ Queens 2

KINGSTON, Ont. (January 16, 2015) - The men's hockey team's losing skid was extended to six games after falling 3-2 versus the Laurier Golden Hawks Friday night at the Memorial Centre.

The Gaels opened the scoring with the lone tally of the first frame on a powerplay marker from Patrick McGillis (Calgary). McGillis walked in from the point and fired a rocket to the top right corner that found its way through the screen. 

The Golden Hawks responded with back-to-back goals in the middle period to grab their first lead of the game. Gaels goaltender Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) made a clutch breakaway save to end the period, maintaining the one goal deficit. 

Laurier added another just over five minutes into the final frame on a goal from Luke Hietkamp. The Gaels trimmed the deficit back to one as Taylor Clements (Toronto) buried a rebound off of a shot from Andrew Wiebe (Thunder Bay, Ont.) for his his third of the season. Queen's generated numerous scoring opportunities in the final minute of play after pulling Bailie but could not find the equalizer. 

Bailie was charged with the loss, finishing the night with 37 saves while Laurier's Colin Furlong earned the 41 save victory. 

"At this point it's sort of a lack of buying in and not necessarily trusting our system." Assistant coach Andrew Haussler commented when asked about the team's recent losing streak. "Until we get everybody pulling the rope in the same direction, we're probably going to have the same results."

The Gaels (8-11-1) return to action Saturday night when they take on the Waterloo Warriors (12-6-1). Puck drop is set for 7:30pm at the Memorial Centre.

Source: Queen's Gaels

Brock 4 @ Guelph 6

Guelph, Ont. - A near capacity crowd, a combined 10 goals scored and a Gryphons victory.  Not a bad way to celebrate Winter Homecoming.  The Gryphons men's hockey team won 6-4 over the Brock Badgers Friday night at the Sleeman Centre in the sixth edition of the Frosty Mug.  With the win, the Gryphons (6-11-3) move into a tie with Toronto for the final playoff spot in the OUA's West Division. 
 
If you are a fan of the Gryphons, the 2015 Frosty Mug certainly got off to a cold start as Brock would open the scoring just 44 seconds into the game.  Just 26 seconds after that, the Badgers would go up 2-0 after Gregory Jambrosich (Hamilton, ON) would finish off a 2-on-0.  After a nervous start to the game, the Gryphons would quickly respond as captain Daniel Broussard (Fayetteville, NC) would break out on a two-on-one and feather a pass to Teal Burns (Victoria, BC) who would score his sixth of the season to make it a 2-1 game.  Former Guelph Storm defenceman MacKenzie Nichol (Listowel, ON), who assisted on the opening goal, would pick up his second assist of the night with a beautiful pass to Scott Simmonds (Uxbridge, ON) who re-directed home.  With that, the game was off to a flying start as four first period goals were split 2-2.
 
In the second period, the goals would continue to pour out of the 2015 Frosty Mug.  A slap shot from just inside the blueline from Brock rookie Taylor Fielding (Clarington, ON) would beat Andrew D'Agostini (Scarborough, ON) high blocker and give the Badgers a 3-2 lead.  47 seconds later, the Gryphons would answer as a sharp angled shot from Carlos Amestoy (Toronto, ON) would find a way past Brock's fourth year goalie Adrian Volpe.  Mac Nichol picked up his third assist of the night on the goal.  Later in the period, the Gryphons appeared to take a 4-3 lead when Robert De Fulviis (Toronto, ON) fired home, but the goal was immediately waved off after the Gryphons were called for too many men on the ice.  After 40 minutes of play, the Gryphons and Badgers were tied at 3-3. 
 
The Gryphons seemed to feed off of the energy of the home crowd in the third period.  Moments after the fans had started doing "the wave" around the Sleeman Centre, Nicklas Huard (North Bay, ON) would fire home a wrist shot high glove side to give the Frosty Mug record crowd of 3,226 even more reason to celebrate.  Unfortunately for the Gryphons, the lead would not last long.  With D'Agostini dealing with some traffic in front of the net, Dan MacEachern (Mississauga, ON) would knot the game at 4-4 as things were tied up for the third time of the night. 
 
A theme of the night was the Gryphons ability to win the battles along the boards deep in the offensive end.  With just over eight minutes to go, 6-foot-2, 200 pound centre Michael Hasson (Ariss, ON) would help win another one of those battles in Brock's end of the ice.  The third year forward was able to get it over to defenceman Steven Strong (Oakville, ON) who would fire a perfectly placed wrist shot into the top corner to send the Gryphon faithful into a frenzy as Guelph took a 5-4 lead.  The question was, could they hold on. 
 
Former Peterborough Pete netminder Andrew D'Agostini would come up with a pair of huge saves to help maintain the Gryphons one goal lead.  Brock's leading scorer Sammy Banga (Windsor, ON) would have all day in front of the net, but D'Agostini would stand tall, turning him away from point blank.  Moments later, D'Agostini was at it again, robbing Banga from in close.  D'Agostini finished the night with 26 saves.  With just over a minute to go, the Badgers were called for a holding the stick penalty, putting the Gryphons on the power play for the remainder of regulation.  In desperation, Brock would pull their goalie to get back to even strength.  The gamble would not pay off as Jordan Mock's empty net goal with 31 seconds to go would seal the 6-4 victory for the Gryphons. 
 
With the win, the Gryphons improve to 4-2-0 all-time at the Frosty Mug.  The combined 10 goals also meant it was the highest scoring game in Frosty Mug history.  Steven Strong's game-winning goal earned him the third star of the game.  Mac Nichol's three assist made him the second star, while Carlos Amestoy was all over the ice all night long, finishing with a goal and an assist to take home the first star. 
 
The celebrations will be short-lived, as the Gryphons are right back at it on Saturday (Jan. 17) as they travel to Toronto to take on York at 7pm.  Five of the Gryphons final seven games come on the road, as the York game marks the beginning of a five game road trip.

Note: the ceremonial puck drop featured St. Louis Blues first round draft pick and Team Canada World Junior gold medalist Robby Fabbri.  Robby, who also led the Guelph Storm to an OHL Championship last season, has an older brother, Len, who plays for the Gryphons.

Source: Guelph Gryphons

Saturday, January 17

Guelph 4 @ York 3

The York University Lions men's hockey team lost its first game in regulation of 2015 to the visiting Guelph Gryphons by a score of 4-3 on Saturday (Jan. 17) in a home game at Canlan Ice Sports.
 
In the first period Shayne Rover (Newmarket, Ont.) opened up the scoring at 7:55 with a superb goal from 17 metres out on the left side, where he sent the puck sprawling to the top left corner of the net.
 
The Gryphons didn't let the Lions hold the lead for very long, however, as Scott Simmonds scooped in an effortless goal at 10:07, leveling the score at 1-1 after the first period of play.
 
In the second, Colton Vannucci (Calgary) took a chance at 3:49 by shooting the puck parallel to the net from the right side and miraculously curved the puck into the left side of the net, scoring a power play goal and giving the Lions a 2-1 lead. 
 
At the midway point of the period, Guelph's Robert De Fulviis chipped the puck past the defence and over the left shoulder of York goaltender Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) to once again level the score at 2-2.
 
The Lions continuously attacked Gryphons goalie Andrew D'Agostini with 15 shots, but he stopped all of the goals from entering his net. The Gryphons finally took their first lead of the game just before the end of the period when MacKenzie Nichol scored a goal at 17:46, putting the score at 3-2 heading into the final frame.
 
In the final period the Lions came out flying as Trevor Petersen (Thronhill, Ont.) scored a goal on the power play, with the help of Michael Santini (Woodbridge, Ont.) and Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) at 3:28, to tie the game at 3-3.
 
The Gryphons continued to push forward, as did the Lions. Both sides scrambled for another goal and both goalies fought hard. As time wound down, Michael Hasson snuck in a fourth goal at 14:46 to give Guelph the lead again, and the Gryphons held on down the stretch to steal the win.
 
Perugini made 29 saves in the loss, while D'Agostini stopped 19 for the win.
 
The Lions remain in sixth place in the OUA West standings with an 8-11-2 mark, while the Gryphons improved to 7-11-3 with their third straight win but remain one point out of the playoff picture in the division.
 
The next game for the Lions is a home game on Friday (Jan. 23) against the No. 10 nationally-ranked Western Mustangs at 7pm at Canlan Ice Sports.

Source: York Lions

Laurentian 0 @ Carleton 5

The Carleton Ravens bounced back from their defeat in Montreal in a big way on Saturday night, blanking the Laurentian Voyageurs 5-0 in front of a raucous crowd at the Ice House. Corey Durocher had a pair of beautiful goals for the Ravens, while Carleton netminder Francis Dupuis made twenty saves en route to his second shutout of the season.

"I think after a pretty emotional night last night in Montreal, I think the guys came out with good pace," said Ravens head coach Marty Johnston. "It was frustrating not to score in the first period, but the team bounced back, and it was nice to see Corey (Durocher) step up."

Carleton dominated long stretches of the opening frame, outshooting their visitors from Sudbury 20-5, but were continuously foiled in their offensive efforts by Laurentian goaltender Charlie Millen. Laurentian killed off a long Carleton 5-on-3 towards the end of the first period, largely thanks to Millen, who made multiple great saves on the kill. Towards the end of the kill, Millen robbed Ravens leading scorer Joe Pleckaitis on a one-timer, kicking out the right pad to make a toe save which elicited more than a few 'ooh's and 'ahh's from the large crowd on hand at the Ice House.

Moments later, it was Dupuis' time to shine. Streaking in on a short-handed breakaway, Laurentian forward Michael McDonald made a slick move to the backhand. Dupuis made a nice sliding save with his left pad, and the game stayed scoreless through twenty minutes of play.

Durocher would open the scoring just under five minutes into the second frame. Prowling on the forecheck in the neutral zone while short-handed, Durocher's aggressive stick created a breakaway opportunity, and Durocher would grasp it, streaking in alone on Millen before roofing a shot over his blocker-side shoulder.

Carleton would double its lead just 1:49 later, through none other than team-leading goalscorer Joe Pleckaitis. Battling his way down the left side, Pleckaitis cut to the middle with a Laurentian defenceman draped all over him and lifted a backhander past Millen and in.

Joey West would stretch the Ravens lead to three at the 13:37 mark of the second period, beating Millen five-hole with a wrist shot that the Laurentian goalie would probably want to have back.

The Ravens had to battle their way through a nervous 1:42 of penalty killing to start the third period, but Dupuis stood tall to preserve the shutout and three-goal lead.

Carleton nearly made it four-zip on a 5-on-3 of their own a few minutes later, but Ravens forward Jeff Hayes was robbed at point-blank range by the outstretched right pad of Millen.

Durocher would pick up his second goal of the night at the 11:52 mark, streaking past the Laurentian defence on the left wing before beating Millen with a snipe to the short side. Durocher's fifth of the season essentially put the game on ice, and Laurentian noticeably sagged after the goal.

Eighth time was the charm for the Ravens powerplay, as Tim Billingsley's point shot beat Millen through traffic at 13:18 of the final frame. "Obviously we've got to find a way to get our powerplay going. We've got some guys out, guys with big roles on the powerplay, but it starts with me – I've got to find a better structure, and hopefully the results will come," said head coach Johnston, whose team went 1-for-9 on the man advantage against the Voyageurs.

With the win, Carleton improved to 16-5-0 on the season.

"It was a good bounceback performance for us tonight," said Durocher, who has caught fire since returning from the December exam break with three goals and three assists in his first five games back. "I'm just trying to stick to the basics really. Get pucks deep, use my speed, and hopefully get some bounces – like I did tonight," said Durocher, a Florida Panthers 6th-rounder in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Source: Carleton Ravens

McGill 4 @ RMC 3

KINGSTON, Ont. -- Jonathan Brunelle broke a 3-3 tie with the game-winning goal on a power-play at 7:06 of the final period and added an assist as No.9-ranked McGill squeaked by Royal Military College 4-3 in OUA men's hockey at Constantine Arena, Saturday.

McGill, which recently clinched a playoff berth for the 11th consecutive season, upped their current win streak to three. They also claimed victory over the Paladins for the 18th straight meeting -- dating back to the last loss, a 2-1 decision in Kingston on Jan. 26, 2008 -- and improved to 59-8-4 lifetime versus RMC since these rivals began playing each other way back in 1892. It is the second-oldest hockey rivalry in North America (see list below).

McGill jumped into a 3-0 lead on a first-period goal by Mathieu Pompei, plus second-period markers from Simon Tardif-Richard and Cedric McNicoll, whose shorthanded tally was his team-leading 10th goal of the season.

But the Paladins, coached by McGill hockey grad Adam Shell (BCom '03) -- who once patrolled the Redmen blueline and also served with the team as an assistant coach -- rallied to tie the score at 3-3 before the middle stanza was over on a goal by Eric Louis-Seize and a pair of markers by Brett Pinder.

The game was eerily similiar to the first meeting between these teams last fall, a 4-3 preseason victory for McGill at McConnell Arena on Sept. 12. In that contest, the Redmen also led 3-0 before RMC roared back to tie it at 3-3, only to see their comeback fall short when Jonathan Bonneau tallied a power-play marker with 5:38 remaining in the final stanza.

"Full marks to Sheller and his team," said Kelly Nobes, who made five lineup changes after an emotional, hard-earned 2-0 shutout over Carleton the previous night, while RMC had a travel day after a 5-4 overtime loss in Sudbury on Thursday. "They played a really good game. They worked, created chances and outplayed us in the first period. They came back from a 3-0 deficit in the second and their goaltender gave them some big saves, especially in the third period."

McGill did have a whopping 57-37 edge in shots on net, including a 25-11 margin in the final frame. Karel St-Laurent collected 34 saves for the win, improving to 7-2 on the season. Evan Deviller, his counterpart at the other end of the ice, made 53 saves in a losing cause.

The Redmen will have another challenging day ahead of them as only eight hours after returning to Montreal, they have to be on the ice at 10 am at the Bell Centre on Sunday. They were invited by the Montreal Canadiens to participate in a skills competition just prior to the annual Provigo Canadiens Fan Practice.

McGill improved to 16-5-0 and remains tied with Carleton (16-5-0). Both sit two points behind UQTR (16-2-2), which leads the OUA East with a game in hand. With five left to play on McGill's 26-game schedule (shortened by two with the withdrawal of the Ottawa Gee-Gees), the Redmen will host Queen's on Jan. 23 before heading to Trois-Rivieres for a huge showdown with the Patriotes on Jan. 28.

REDMEN RAP: Centre David Rose, who shares the team lead in goals with 10, did not return to the game after being helped off the ice during an awkward collision at the RMC bench in the first period... The McGill lineup featured five new players from the previous night, with five veterans getting a rest day, including team captain Benoit Levesque, forward Max Le Sieur and goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, plus defencemen Vincent Barnard, Etienne Boutet and Guillaume Monast... Inserted into the lineup was the aforementioned St-Laurent, plus rearguards Francis Lambert-Lemay, Alex Chenevert and Jan Kaminsky, as well as forwards Pietro Antonelli and Alexandre Lemieux.

Source: McGill Redmen

Western 4 @ Toronto 3

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team fell 4-3 to the No.10 Western Mustangs on Saturday, January 17 at Varsity Arena.
 
The first period saw the Mustangs Julian Cimadamore score two minutes into the game, but impressive goaltending from Toronto's Brett Willows kept the game within reach after the first period.

Michael Markovic began a Toronto-dominated period with a goal in the first two minutes of the second, followed by fourth-year forward Paul Van De Velde's goal at 3:51. The home team ended with a 2-1 advantage heading into the final frame.

Western's Steve Reese and Cody Brown found the back of the net within the first three minutes of the period, but U of T's Dean Klomp evened up the game four minutes in. The game was tied 3-3 until the last five minutes of the third period, when Western's second –year defenceman Colin MacDonald put the puck between the pipes, sealing the Mustangs victory.
 
Willows notched 30 saves in his second start in as many nights.
 
The Varsity Blues return to the ice to take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves in Varsity Arena on January 23. The puck drops at 7:30p.m.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Concordia 4 @ Windsor 8

In game two of a weekend double-header, Spencer Pommells and the No. 7 ranked Lancer men's hockey team dominated the Concordia Stingers 8-4 to sweep the series at South Windsor Arena.
 
With the win, Windsor earns their third straight victory and improves to 17-3-1 on the year and continues to sit in first place in the OUA. After a pair of weekend losses, the Stingers fall to 7-15-0 and sit above the RMC Paladins, who are in last place in the OUA east division.
 
Pommells finished the game with 3 goals and 2 assists, while goaltender Parker Van Buskirk turned aside 30 shots to earn the victory in net. Pommells, a native of Grand Prairie, AB, continues to lead the CIS in scoring with an impressive 42 points (14G, 28A) in 21 games.
 
In a high scoring first period, Pommells put the Lancers on the board first with a gorgeous shot placed over the shoulder of Stingers goaltender Alexandre St-Arnaud. Four minutes later, Matt Beaudoin fired a shot into the top corner, with assists from Pommells and Julian Luciani, putting the Blue & Gold up 2-0. 
 
Just over a minute later, Concordia capitalized on a power play as Domenic Beauchemin beat Van Buskirk to cut the Lancer lead to one.
 
With Concordia putting a lot of pressure on the Lancers, Pommells broke through the defence and scored his second of the night, unassisted. After a goalie change, Concordia kept battling back and Beauchemin scored his second of the night to make the score 3-2 after the first period. The Stingers outshot the Lancers 20-12 in the period.
 
Four minutes into the second, Concordia's Gabriel Bourret sent an up ice pass to Dany Potvin to spring him on a breakaway, where he slid the puck between the legs of Van Buskirk to even the score at three apiece.
 
Midway through the frame on a Lancer power play, Pommells buried a rebound to give him a league leading second hat-trick of the season.  Dylan Denomme added another power play marker to put Windsor up 5-3 heading into the final period.
 
The Stingers started the third period strong as Scott Oke found a wide open Oliver Hinse in the slot, where he made no mistake. From there it was the Lancers who took charge of the third period and took advantage of Concordia's defensive lapses, as Luciani and Eric Noel added a goal each, to make the final score 8-4 for Windsor.
 
Windsor will hit the road next week for a pair of games against the Brock Badgers (9-10-2) on Friday night and the Laurier Golden Hawks (7-13-1) on Saturday. Both games will kick off at 7:30pm. 

Source: Windsor Lancers

Waterloo 2 @ Queens 3 (OT)

KINGSTON, Ont. (January 17, 2015) - The men's hockey team saw their losing skid come to an end as Darcy Greenaway (Wilton, Ont.) buried the overtime winner to top the Waterloo Warriors 3-2 Saturday night at the Memorial Centre. 

The Gaels opened the scoring in the first frame as Yannick Laflamme (Thetford Mines, Que.) buried his third of the season on an unassisted effort. The Warriors responded with a powerplay tally from Brett Mackie to even the score. Queen's regained the lead to close out the opening period as Captain Corey Bureau (Amherstview, Ont.) deposited a great pass from Darcy Jackson (Scarborough, Ont.) in the slot. 

The second period was a scoreless affair as goaltenders Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) of the Gaels and Mike Morrison of the Warriors turned aside all shots that came their way.

The Warriors knotted the score in the opening minutes of the final frame on a tally from Sam Caldwell. Neither side could add the go-ahead goal, forcing overtime to decide the match. 

It did not take long for the Gaels to register the game-winner in overtime as Bureau made a terrific cross-crease pass to find Greenaway who redirected home the winner. 

Final shots for the night totalled 36-33 in favour of Waterloo. Bailie was credited with the 34 save victory while Morrison was charged with the 30 save loss.

"It feels great," commented Head Coach Brett Gibson when asked about his team's victory. "We made some adjustments by pulling some guys from the lineup. Some guys that haven't played in a long time came in and did everything I asked. It was fantastic." 

The Gaels (9-11-1) return to action Friday night when they travel to Montreal to take on the No.9 McGill Redmen (16-5-0).

Source: Queen's Gaels

Laurier 5 @ UOIT 2

OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team dropped their second game of the weekend as the Laurier Golden Hawks picked up a 5-2 come from behind victory on Saturday night at the Campus Ice Centre.

The Ridgebacks held a 2-1 lead after forty minutes, but Laurier scored four third period goals to earn their seventh win of the season.
 
Penalties would turn out to be UOIT's Achilles' heel, as they were sent to the box eight times. Laurier would capitalize with two power play markers, including the game-tying goal midway through the third period. UOIT on the other hand was shutout on four power play opportunities.
 
Less than 30 seconds after the game-tying goal, Laurier's Patrick Chore was able to beat Colin Dzijacky (Thunder Bay, Ont.), giving the Golden Hawks their first lead of the game. Laurier would add two more goals including an empty netter to secure two points in the standings. Mike Webley would score two goals for Laurier with Erik Pushka and Matt Provost picking up the others.
 
Kevin George (Uxbridge, Ont.) netted UOIT's first goal of the game 50 seconds into the contest while Mitch Bennett (Fenelon Falls, Ont.) registered his fourth of the season midway through the second period. Bennett finished the night with a goal and an assist, his second multi-point game of the year.
 
Dzijacky ended up stopping 29 Laurier shots while Vinny Merante made 31 saves in his second win three starts. Final shots finished 34-33 in favour of the Golden Hawks.
 
With the loss, UOIT (8-12-1) falls to seventh place in the OUA conference standings, two points behind the Queen's Gaels (9-11-1) who put an end to Waterloo's nine-game win streak with a 3-2 overtime victory.
 
Up next for UOIT will be a road affair with the RMC Paladins (0-17-3) on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Game time in Kingston is 7 p.m.

Source: UOIT Ridgebacks

UQTR 4 @ Lakehead 3

The Lakehead Thunderwolves were edged 4-3 by the UQTR Patriotes in a tightly-contested match in front of 2153 fans at the Fort William Gardens on Saturday night.

In a scoreless in the first period, Lakehead's Brennen Dubchak and Jake Wright had good scoring opportunities but couldn't put the puck past Patriotes netminder Francis Desrosiers. At the other end of the ice, Wolves' goalie Jeff Bosch also made several key stops.

Kelin Ainsworth got Lakehead on the board with a one-timer off a nice feed from Cody Alcock at 5:13 of the second period, with Andrew Tessier picking up the other assist.

Felix Plouffe evened the score near the midway mark of the period, but the Wolves regained the lead when Mike Quesnele beat Desrosiers up high with a wrist shot at 13:06.  Assisting on the goal were David Quesnele and Nathan Cull.

With only 16 seconds left in the middle stanza, Plouffe notched his second goal of the period while the Patriotes were on the power play to knot the score at 2-2 heading into the third.

Carl-Antoine Delisle converted a Lakehead giveaway into a 3-2 lead for UQTR at 3:44 of the final frame, but with the Wolves on the power play, Ryan Magill finished off a nifty set-up by Jay Gilbert to tie the game back up at 3-3.  Mike Hammond collected the second assist on Magill's goal at the 7:28 mark.

Guillaume Asselin got the winner for the Patriotes just over a minute later to round out the scoring for the night.

Total shots on goal were 33-31 in favor of UQTR.

The Molson Three Stars of the game were:

1. Felix Plouffe, UQTR
2. Ryan Magill, Lakehead
3. Guillaume Asselin, UQTR
 
The win keeps the Patriotes in first place in the East Division with a record of 16-2-2, while the Wolves remain in sixth spot in the ten-team West Division with an OUA record of 8-11-2.

Lakehead will travel to Toronto next weekend to take on the Varsity Blues on Friday night followed by a Saturday matinee with the Ryerson Rams.

Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves