M-HOCKEY ROUNDUP: Western extends win streak to 3 with big win over Brock
Wednesday, January 22
UOIT 4 @ RMC 2
KINGSTON, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team earned a road victory on Wednesday night as they doubled up RMC 4-2 in Kingston to move up one spot in the standings.
Less than a week ago against Waterloo, it was a lackluster second period by UOIT that cost the team the decision. Tonight against RMC, the second period was a strength for the Ridgebacks as they scored three consecutive goals including two in the opening minute.
It was the veterans doing the damage for UOIT as James Woodcroft (Milton, Ont.) and Cameron Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) scored in the first minute, followed up by a Jesse Stoughton (Bobcaygeon, Ont.) snipe with five minutes left on the clock.
From that point on, UOIT would rely on their penalty killing unit to step up as RMC was handed six power play opportunities, but failed to score each time with the man advantage. The Ridgebacks penalty killers have been sharp this season running at 83 per cent and are in the top half of the league in efficiency.
RMC would beat UOIT goaltender Brendan O'Neill twice, but the freshman netminder came up with 32 saves in his sixth win of the season.
Dylan King (Middle Sackville, N.S.) and Alex Derlis (Campbellcroft, Ont.) had multi-point nights for the Ridgebacks.
UOIT (9-12-1) moves back into a tie for sixth place in the conference standings with the Queen's Gaels (9-11-1), who have a game in hand on the Ridgebacks. The two clubs will meet up next week on Tuesday night in Kingston.
The Ridgebacks will close out the home portion of their schedule on Saturday night when they host the UQTR Patriotes (16-3-2) at 7:30 p.m. UOIT will be raising money for Their Opportunity, an organization providing kids the chance to play minor sports, while paying tribute to their graduating seniors.
Source: UOIT Ridgebacks
Western 7 @ Brock 3
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — A power play goal along with a trio of tallies at five-on-five in the first period gave the Mustangs all the offence they would need on Wednesday night, as Western rolled over the Brock Badgers for a 7-3 win at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.
Western ended up going two-for-eight with the power play while limiting the Badgers to just one goal on six of their own opportunities. The Mustangs are now temporarily tied with Windsor atop the OUA with 35 points, although the Lancers do have a game in hand.
Unfortunately for Western, the win ended up coming at a big cost, as Kyle De Coste, Luke Karaim, and Cody Brown were all knocked out of the game with injuries in the second period. Kane Geldart and Andrew Radjenovic were both given game misconducts for high hits on Karaim and Brown, respectively, while Tyson Dellman was called for boarding on De Coste.
Neither Brown or Karaim returned to the game, while De Coste came back in the third. Prior to their injuries, Karaim and De Coste each had points, with Karaim assisting on the game's opening goal from Noah Schwartz and De Coste adding a helper on a goal from Stefan Salituro. Brown came into the game fresh off of being named Western's Male Athlete of the Week.
Schwartz's opener was one of two goals from the sophomore in the frame, as he also closed out the period with a strike at 16:07. Between those goals, Trevor Warnaar and Salituro found the net for Western while Taylor Fielding responded with a tally for the Badgers. Salituro would also add another goal in the third period, icing the game with four minutes left.
The two teams entered the second period with the score at 4-1 and, while there was no scoring change during the frame, it was far from eventless. All three injuries occurred in just over a ten minute span, as Geldart took a run at Karaim 4:42 into the period before Turcotte was served for boarding De Coste just over a minute later. Radjenovic, Brock's leading scorer, was called for checking to the head at 15:40 in a period that saw 38 total penalty minutes handed out.
The Badgers looked like they were going to make the game interesting in the third, responding to a goal from Matt Marantz 48 seconds in with two goals of their own. But with time winding down, Salituro and Julian Cimadamore scored goals 40 seconds apart to close out the win for the Mustangs and improve their record to 17-4-1 on the season.
Despite giving up two goals in the third period, Greg Dodds truly stole the show for the Mustangs in the latter half of the game. With injuries happening seemingly every minute and distractions everywhere one looked, Dodds kept his cool and net and was able to turn away a number of shots in the second and third frames. He now has 13 wins on the year.
Brock's net, on the other hand, saw a bit of changeover during the tough game. Real Cormier was pulled in the first period after giving up four goals on 17 shots, giving way to Adrian Volpe, who closed out the first period before handing the reigns back to Cormier at the start of the second period. Cormier proceeded to give up three additional goals in the third.
Notes: Reese recorded his 100th and his 101st OUA assists on the night, and was met with congratulations from the Brock sideline announcer after the game… Geldart led the league in penalty minutes with a whopping total of 86 minutes heading into Wednesdays game and lived up to his reputation, earning 15 more on the night… Not only did De Coste returned to the game, he also added another assist on Salituro's third period power play goal… Schwartz has been an absolutely monster lately for Western, entering the game on a six-game point streak and extending that to seven with a four point night. He now has seven goals and 21 points on the year.
Source: Western Mustangs
Other Scores: Concordia 8 @ UQTR 5
