M-HOCKEY WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Thunderwolves beat Golden Hawks to clinch playoff spot
Hollywood producers couldn't have written a better script for the Brock Badgers men's hockey team Friday night at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.
Lakehead 3 @ Laurier 2 (Saturday)
The Lakehead Thunderwolves edged the Laurier Golden Hawks 3-2 in the regular-season finale at the Sun Life Arena in Waterloo, Ontario Saturday night to secure the Wolves a place in the OUA playoffs.
Lakehead opened the scoring 11:43 into the game on an unassisted goal by Mike Quesnele, who beat Laurier netminder Vinny Merante while the Wolves were short-handed.
Carson Dubchak put the Wolves in front 2-1 after being set up by Luke Maw and Brennen Dubchak at 13:19 of the second period.
Laurier's Derek Schoenmakers replied just over two minutes later while the Golden Hawks were on the power play, but a blast by Nathan Bruyere with only 15 seconds remaining in the period gave Lakehead a 3-2 lead heading into the third.
Bruyere's goal would stand as the winner after a scoreless final frame.
Shots on goal in the game were 30-28 for the Thunderwolves.
Lakehead finishes the OUA regular season in seventh place with a record of 10-14-3, and will meet the second-seeded Western Ontario Mustangs in the first round of the playoffs.
Game #1 of the best-of-three West Division quarter-finals will played at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay on Wednesday night, before the series shifts to London for game #2, and if necessary, game #3 next weekend.
Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves
Friday, February 6
Toronto 2 @ Brock 7
Hollywood producers couldn't have written a better script for the Brock Badgers men's hockey team Friday night at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.
Hours before the game an anonymous donor stepped forward to cover the entire cost of the night's guest of honour, Brock Badgers defenceman Milan Doczy, and his Interferon cancer drug treatment. The 24-year old Czech Republic native was recently diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer that had spread to his closest lymph nodes.
Friday's contest was dubbed the 'Do It For Doczy' game and that's exactly what the Badgers did, defeating the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 7-2.
Brock head coach Murray Nystrom had Doczy read out the starting line-ups in the dressing room before the game. It was also a chance for the former Owen Sound Attack blueliner to tell the team the good news.
"It's not usually like me to step up and speak in the dressing room, but I told the guys the news – that an anonymous donor had come forward," said an emotional Doczy.
From there, Doczy dropped the puck to a standing ovation as the 1, 075 fans in attendance roared in approval.
Just over 24 minutes later Brock had a 4-0 lead and never looked back.
Andrew Radjenovic paced the brazen Badger attack with two goals and three assists.
"Tonight was a night were hockey came second," explained Radjenovic. "Tonight was about Milan. It was great to produce, I've been struggling the past six of seven games, but once again this was about the team winning for Milan."
Nystrom was happy for his leading scorer, but also knew the final score was ultimately not what mattered.
"If the guys couldn't get pumped for tonight they shouldn't being playing hockey," said the veteran Brock bench boss. "Win or lose, this night was about Milan. It was great to see (Radjenovic) break out – he's put the weight of the world on his shoulders the past few weeks. But big players step up in big games. He's going to be a great pro one day."
Doczy, who also had job interviews with two major banks on Bay Street earlier in the day on Friday, was amazed at just how many people came together to support the 'Do It For Doczy' campaign.
"I'd like to thank this community, not just the Brock community, but everyone. To see what I've seen the past couple of months – there's so many people to thank. Then to get the news about an anonymous donor, then to drop the puck in front of thousands of people standing and cheering for me. It was amazing."
With the win Brock moves into seventh place in the OUA West standings and needs a single point Saturday night in Windsor to clinch a playoff spot.
"I don't want to get into all the scenarios of who needs to win and lose, we just have to carry the momentum from tonight into tomorrow," Nystrom said.
Badger Bits: Doczy also heard earlier in the week that his cancer had not spread any further.
Brock Chair of the Board, Mr. John Suk and Paul Dermody, Vice-President of Student Services, joined Doczy for the ceremonial faceoff.
Doczy's original billets from his OHL days playing in Owen Sound, Sean and Tracy Walker, were also in attendance wearing their Doczy #3 Attack jerseys.
Sammy Banga had one goal and two helpers for Brock. Patrick Volpe two goals, while Jamie Kendra and Daniel Tanel added singles. Anthony Geldart added three assists for the Badgers. Clint Windsor picked up the win making 31 saves.
Carleton 8 @ Nipissing 3
A slow start, an attempted comeback and some bad bounces added up to a tough loss for the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team on Friday night.
The Carleton Ravens jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one, a 6-2 lead after two as they cruised to an 8-3 victory over the Lakers in their second meeting of the season.
The game was the final one at home for the Lakers this season as they now finish the season on the road Sunday in Sudbury against Laurentian.
The Ravens scored twice in the first period to lead 2-0 after 20 minutes and scored twice in the first five minutes of the second period to open up a commanding 4-0 cushion.
The Lakers answered back with two goals – one by Erik Robichaud and the other by Steven Deeg, his first of the season – as Nipissing climbed back into the game.
Unfortunately the strong play wouldn't last as the Ravens tacked on two more before the end of the second to take a 6-2 lead to the dressing room after 40 minutes.
Once again the Lakers tried to mount a comeback as they scored midway through the third period to close the gap, but as was the case in the second, the Ravens scored two goals to wrap up the scoring and earn the two points.
Brogan Bailey and Matt Paton both had two assists in the loss.
The Lakers are now tied for fifth place with the Queens Gaels, with both teams having one game left on the schedule.
They are also just two points behind Laurentian for fourth spot, meaning the game remaining that the Gaels, Voyageurs and Lakers have will determine who finishes where in the OUA's East Division.
Laurier 0 @ Western 6
Marc Nother stopped 22 shots for the first shutout of his OUA career and Western ended their power play struggles in a big way, scoring four goals on six man advantage chances to power by the Laurier Golden Hawks 6-0 at Thompson Arena Friday night.
The game also served as an opportunity to celebrate Western's nine departing players, and those players made sure to give their teammates a big thank you. In total, they accounted for 12 points on the night, highlighted by Adam McKee's four points and Stefan Salituro's three. Post-game, Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer couldn't say enough good things about his graduating players.
"I said to them before the game [that] it's probably one of the best groups of young men graduating that I've had in my 15 or 16 years here," he said. "That counts between the board and off the ice as well, so we really wanted to have a great game for them but they had a great game for each other too by the points scored."
McKee was everywhere on Friday night, winning face-offs left and right to go with his goal and three assists. A five-year veteran for Western who has been through his fair share of playoffs, the London native didn't take much time to answer when asked what he thinks it's going to take for the Mustangs to win in the post-season this year.
"Honestly games like that," he responded. "After Thursday we weren't happy with the way we played going down to Guelph and we really made a point tonight on seniors night to make sure that we went into the playoffs with the right mind-set and the right momentum. We played a full sixty, which is what we really need to do."
Considering the Mustangs entered the game with three losses in their last four games, the game seemed like exactly what the team needed heading into the playoffs. But after the game Singer made sure to point out that he wasn't exactly disappointed with the team's recent play.
"I think the one thing that people forget is how good this league is," Singer said. "You can play good and lose [and] you have to play your best to win. I think tonight that was our best game probably in the second half and hopefully the right time to have it. We've battled some injuries, we've had different line combinations, but the guys played hard tonight."
Western dominated the opening period, firing a game-high 20 shots on Laurier starter Vinny Merante and getting a goal from McKee. Even with all of their zone time, that goal actually came as a result of a Golden Hawks gaffe, as their defence coughed up the puck behind the net to allow Steve Reese and Kyle De Coste to feed McKee in front.
Not long after, the Mustangs would get a chance to widen their lead, only to have Merante stretch out the pad and rob Saltiruo on a clear break. The play came as a result of a great saucer pass from Reese, as he chipped the puck up and behind Laurier's defence to find his line mate. Ryan Kirk would get another excellent chance with seven minutes left, blowing around his man on the outside, but wasn't able to find the back of the net.
Those saves were just two of a number of good ones for Merante in the game, which is to say that he probably deserved a better fate than he ended up getting. But the second period wouldn't be kind to him, and after the Mustangs netted two goals within the first five minutes he would be pulled from the net in favour of Colin Furlong.
Salituro got the scoring started in the second frame, chasing down an offensive-zone face-off win by McKee and chipping the puck past Merante. De Coste would add to that effort up with a five-on-three goal of his own three minutes later, following up a close chance from David Corrente with a laser off the cross bar and in.
That goal chased Merante, but Furlong wouldn't have much more luck; it took just over a minute for Matt Marantz to welcome him to the game with Western's fourth tally of the night. On the other end of the ice, Nother faced just nine shots in the period after facing just three in the first. Despite the low shot totals he was still forced to make a number of great saves, highlighted by a save late in the middle frame that saw him sprawl to rob Laurier's Kyle Morrison in tight.
The rough play picked up near the end of the period too, as the Golden Hawks began to show their frustration. Laurier took the first four penalties of the game before Western closed out the second frame with a pair, though most of the rough action came in the form of clean hits. For Western, Worrad and Paltridge each got in on the action, while Laurier's Matt Provost got the better of Matt Herskovitz on a mid-ice hit with five minutes left.
Corrente added Western's fifth of the night in the third period, capitalizing on a great face-off win by McKee and blasting the one-timer through Furlong with just two seconds left on the Laurier penalty. That goal was Western's fourth and final man advantage goal on the night, and post-game McKee spoke about the revived power play.
"Before this we were kind of in a little bit of a lull— last night I thought we moved it well, we didn't get a lot of bounces last night but tonight we put some pucks in the net," Mckee said. "I mean it's not always about moving it around it's about little bounces. Last night we moved it as well as we did tonight but you know the bounces went our way tonight and we really need our power play going into the playoffs because goals are really hard to come by."
Trevor Warnaar would score the sixth of the game with just over five minutes left, diving to sweep in the puck on a scramble play in front of the Golden Hawks' net. Despite a couple of penalties with time winding down, the score would ultimately stay the same as Western walked away with the big victory. Nother now has five wins in his last five appearances.
Next up are the playoffs for the Mustangs, and although they won't know their opponent until this weekend's games are over they know they're going to be playing a desperate team. As Singer is always quick to note, the OUA is a league with a lot of parity, so look for the Mustangs to be playing some exciting games when action kicks off next week.
NOTES
[Usual] defenceman Alex Micallef, one of Western's departing seniors, had two assists on the night as the team tried him out at forward. Post-game, Singer spoke about the decision: "Just looking with our injury situation and our depth," Singer said. "Just looking to put the best lineup together for the playoffs. [Micallef] is such a dynamic player— he's a great skater, he's got a great shot, he's offensive minded and we just wanted to get a look at him up there in case we maybe needed him in the playoffs." But don't expect that to be a regular occurrence, as Singer added that Micallef's defensive skills will probably be needed unless there are special circumstances dictate that they need to move him back up.
Ryerson 3 @ Windsor 6
The Windsor Lancer men's hockey team doubled up on the Ryerson Rams 6-3 Friday night in a hard fought battle at South Windsor Arena.
The No, 7 Lancers, who had already clinched first place in the OUA West division, are now 21-4-1 on the season while the Rams fall to 14-12-1 and are in fourth in the west division.
The Rams opened up the scoring in the first period as Kyle Blaney and Daniel Clairmont broke out on a 2-on-1 that saw Blaney putting the puck past Parker Van Buskirik.
The Lancers evened the score as Matt Beaudoin, from the corner, found an open Julian Luciani who blasted one past Ryerson netminder Troy Passingham.
With under a minute to play in the first period, Spencer Pommells stick handled around the Rams net, and spottedRyan Green in front who buried the puck. The same line of Pommells, Green and Beaudoin remained on the ice, and only 12 seconds later, Green made a pass out front to Beaudoin, who made no mistake, and put the Lancers up 3-1 heading into the second period.
The second period was physical and evenly played. Ryerson scored the lone goal in the period when the Lancers failed to clear the puck out of their end. It ended up on the stick of Mathew Andreacchi, who put it over the shoulder of Van Buskirk, cutting Windsor's lead to one going into the third.
To start off the third period, Ryerson made a questionable hit in their end which led to an odd-man rush for the Rams and allowing Mitch Gallant to even the score at three apiece.
The Lancers kept battling and with eight minutes to play, Dylan Denomme made a cross ice pass to Scott Prier, who netted a beautiful goal to make the score 4-3.
Then it was Pommells who made a pass through traffic, across to line mate Ryan Green as he scored his second of the game. Dylan Seguin added an empty net goal for the Lancers, making the final score 6-3.
Lakehead 4 @ Waterloo 7
If Senior Day is a kind of on-ice graduation ceremony for the Waterloo Warriors, then Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge) made sure he was the valedictorian.
One of six graduating players honoured before the game, Sonnenburg netted a hat trick and added an assist in Waterloo's commanding 7-4 victory over the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Friday night in Waterloo.
Colin Behenna (Waterloo), Andrew Smith (Kitchener), and Stephen Silas (Georgetown) also had three-point nights for the Warriors, who wrapped up their home schedule with their 13th win in their past 15 games. Waterloo finished 9-4-0 at home, and they pushed their record to 17-7-2 on the season.
Meanwhile, the loss could be costly for the Thunderwolves. Despite two-point efforts from Mike Hammond and Jake Wright, the Wolves fell to 9-14-3 – and they fell out of the final playoff spot in the OUA's West Division. With just one game left, the Wolves find themselves in a logjam for the final playoff spots.
Mike Morrison (Hamilton) earned his 14th win of the season for the Warriors, turning aside 36 shots in the victory. Meanwhile, Lakehead keeper Justin McDonald stopped 14 of 19 shots through two periods, before getting replaced by call-up Riley Corbin.
After weathering an early storm, Sonnenburg opened the scoring for the hosts when he capitalized on an Anthony Tapper (Marmora) rebound less than four minutes in. Before the first period expired, Wright would even the score with a power play goal on the doorstep, making it 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Silas sniped his second goal of the season just 91 seconds into the second, before Lakehead forward Matt Kaarela tipped home a point shot to make it 2-2. That's when the Warriors stepped on the gas, notching the game's next five goals to pace them to victory.
First, Smith beat his man on the rush and beat McDonald on the far side to put Waterloo up 3-2. Then, Sonnenburg completed the hat trick with a pair of markers – a short side wrister from a sharp angle, followed by a tap-in off a gorgeous feed from Behenna. When the middle stanza ended, the Warriors were up 5-2, and they weren't done there.
A new Wolves goaltender didn't slow down the Warriors, as Smith converted a Sonnenburg centering pass to make it 6-2 just 14 seconds into the third. Waterloo's final goal of the night was perhaps the prettiest, as Behenna fought off a defenceman and made a move to his forehand to finish top shelf, making it 7-2 for the hosts.
Keith Grondin and Ryan Magill scored late goals for the Thunderwolves, but the damage was already done, as the Warriors held on for victory.
Waterloo will now turn its attention to their regular season finale, as they travel down highway 7 to take on the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday night. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 pm.
Notes: Lakehead went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Warriors didn't get a chance on the man advantage…in addition to Sonnenburg, the Warriors also honoured seniorsKain Allicock (Markham), Jeff Einhorn (Red Deer), Robin Clarke (Cambridge), Anthony Tapper (Marmora), and Justin Larson (Buckhorn) in the pregame ceremony…Waterloo regulars Chris Chappell (Pickering), Matt Kennedy (Oro Medonte) and Joe Underwood (Canton) missed the game due to injury, while Phillip Fife (Oromocto) was out serving a suspension.
Other Scores:
McGill 4 @ Concordia 3 (OT)
Saturday, February 7
Toronto 3 @ York 2 (OT)
The York University men's hockey team lost their final game of the season to the Toronto Varsity Blues 3-2 in overtime during a home game on Saturday (Feb. 7) at Canlan Ice Sports.
The most action erupted in the last five minutes of the second period after the Varsity Blues broke the deadlock at 15:19. The Lions defence split up and spread out, giving Dylan Heide an excellent chance to skate through the middle and launch the puck behind Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.).
Heide forced his way through the Lions again on a power play as he exploded a sniper shot at 16:49 that landed under the top bar of the net, putting the Blues ahead 2-0.
One minute later, at 18:12, Michael Santini (Woodbridge, Ont.) cut off the Blue's defence as he skated around the net and passed the puck to Jordan Forfar (Sutton, Ont.) who smashed in a power play goal for the Lions. Santini makes his tenth assist of the year with a big play from a big player.
The Lions smacked a total of 10 shots in the second, while the Blues had 11.
In the third period the Lions created many chances, making the Blues stand on the back of their heels. However, only one of the Lions shots hit the net, while the Blues did not take a single shot on the Lions net.
At 5:26, Santini and Shayne Rover (Newmarket, Ont.) created great lines of passing as they assisted the puck to Louis-Joseph Sawyer (Montreal, Que.) who had a solid vision and made no mistake as he buried the puck in the back of the net. Sawyer tied the score at 2-2, forcing the game into overtime.
With only two minutes into overtime Heide chipped the puck over to Marcus Yolevski who passed the puck to Tyler Liukkonen who sent the puck roaring behind Perugini to end the game with a final score of 3-2, with the Blues taking the win.
Both goalies, Perugini and the Blue's Garrett Sheehan, saved a total of 20 shots this game.
The Lions finish the season at the bottom of the OUA West standings with 20 points and a record of 9-15-2, while the Blues finish in fifth with 25 points and a record of 12-13-1. They will take on Ryerson in the first round of the playoffs.
The Lions men's hockey team will not advance to playoffs this year, and will test their luck again on the ice next season.
RMC 1 @ McGill 5
Defenceman Samuel Labrecque tied a school record with his sixth game-winning goal as No.6 ranked McGill clinched the OUA East pennant with a 5-1 victory over the visiting Royal Military College Paladins at McConnell Arena, Saturday.
It marked the first regular season divisional title since 2011-12 for the Redmen and their fifth since 2004-05. McGill, which finished atop the nine-team OUA East with a 21-5-0 record, will open a best-of-three quarterfinal series against eighth-place Concordia (8-17-1) on Wednesday at McConnell Arena (7 p.m.).
"There's a lot of value in finishing first," said Redmen head coach Kelly Nobes, who improved to 146-59-3 in 208 games overall since taking over the helm five years ago. The guys know that and we worked hard to earn home-ice advantage and we can (celebrate) that for a day but then we have to get focussed on the playoffs because that's a totally different season and nothing else, other than lessons learned, really matters going forward."
McGill, which outshot RMC 45-22, found themselves tied 1-1 after the first period but exploded for three in less than four minutes during the middle stanza and added one more in the third.
Labrecque, a 22 year-old native of Granby, Que., who led all CIS blueliners this season with 13 goals in 26 games, tallied his deciding marker on the power-play at 11:28 of the second period. The first-year physical education transfer from Clarkson University equaled a 27-year-old McGill record for game-winners set by centre Tim Iannone, who tallied six in 25 league games during 1987-88. That mark was matched in 2009-10 by Redmen forward Francis Verreault-Paul who accomplished the feat in 27 contests. Labrecque needs three more in the post-season to match the Redmen single-season overall record of nine held by Iannone (38 games, 1987-88).
Cedric McNicoll opened the scoring at 2:43 for McGill with his 11th but RMC's Deric Boudreau tied it a 1-1 just three minute later with his first career marker.
In the second period, Labrecque struck at 11:28, followed shortly after by Max Le Sieur (9th) at 14:05 and Neal Prokop (5th) at 14:50.
Pietro Antonelli, a sophomore forward from from Blainville, Que., who tallied his second of the season and also collected an assist on the first goal, put the game out of reach at 5:28 of the final period and was named as the game's first star. The 5-foot-11, 213-pound product of Stanstead College, only recently received a chance to crack the lineup as the Redmen have had a few players go down with injuries. He finished up strong with all six of his points this season coming over the last four contests.
"Antonelli has played well when he's gotten a chance," said Nobes. "He has a big frame and uses it well to protect the puck against the boards and work the corners. He brings physical play, can shoot the puck with some offensive flair and showed that on his goal tonight."
Redmen goaltender Karel St-Laurent started and turned aside 21 pucks for the win, improving to 8-2-0. He finished third in the nation in save percentage (.932) and ranked fourth in goals-against average (1.91). RMC's Evan Deviller made 40 saves in a losing cause.
McGill now turns its focus on meeting Concordia in the first-round of the playoffs. During the preseason, Concordia defeated McGill 5-4 in overtime (Sept. 13) but the Redmen swept both regular season meetings, 5-3 in the "Score With School" morning game on Nov. 27 and 4-3 in double overtime last Friday in the annual Corey Cup game.
"Concordia is always a tough battle for us, we always seem to have close games with them," said McGill team captain Benoit Levesque, who assisted on Prokop's goal. "They're a run-and-gun team and they can score off the rush, so we have to be aware of that, respect them, play well defensively and try to shut them down."
Game 1 of the playoffs will be the 200th lifetime meeting between McGill and Concordia. The Redmen are 91-94-14 against the Stingers in a rivalry that began in 1975. They have crossed paths 11 times in post-season play with McGill winning seven of the series and 13 of 23 playoff encounters. The Redmen have taken the last two playoff meetings, in 2014 and 2007. Concordia hasn't beaten McGill in the post-season since 2001.
REDMEN RAP: The victory over RMC improved McGill's record to 60-8-4 lifetime against the Paladins and marked a milestone win against Ontario-based institutions as the Redmen improved to 600-388-58 lifetime in 1,046 games overall versus OUA opponents, a .601 winning percentage.
Brock 6 @ Windsor 9
In a high scoring affair, the No. 7 Lancer men's hockey team closed out the regular season with a 9-6 victory over the Brock Badgers Saturday night at South Windsor Arena.
Windsor finished the year with a 22-4-1 record to win the OUA, while Brock closed out the year with a 10-15-2 record to earn the final playoff spot in the west division.
In the win fourteen different Lancers tallied points on the team's nine goals, including six of the eight graduating seniors who were honoured prior to the start of the game.
The first ten minutes of the opening period saw the goal light lite up four times. Lancer rookie Dylan Denommeopened the scoring for the Lancers with a power play goal, followed by a Spencer Pommells goal one minute later that was assisted by Matt Beaudoin.
Then it was Brock's Jordan Gignac who got the visitors on the board with a power play goal, making the score 2-1. The Lancers added two more goals from Pommells and Kenny Bradford, while the Badgers Dylan MacEachem netted one to put the score at 4-2 at the end of the first period.
In the second period, both teams notched three goals. Goal scorers for Windsor included Isak Quakenbush,Sebastian Beauregard, and Drew Palmer, while the Badgers added markers from Andrew Radjenovic, Daniel Tanel, and Tyson Dallman. Heading into the third period the Lancers held a 7-5 lead.
The Lancers added to their lead early as Chad Shepley received a cross ice pass from Eric Noel, and fired it past Brock's Clint Windsor. Brock rallied back and scored a power play goal from Sammy Banga, to make the score 8-6. However, the Badgers did not have enough momentum for a comeback.
Mike Christou added a late power play goal for the Lancers to finalize the scoring at 9-6.
Fifth year goaltender Parker Van Buskirk made 28 saves in net for the win.
The Lancers and Badgers will now face off against each other in the first round of the playoffs. Stay tuned to goLancers.ca for details as they become available.
Waterloo 4 @ Guelph 5
This is going to be one heck of a playoff matchup. On Saturday night at the Gryphon Centre, the Gryphons men's hockey team won 5-4 over the Waterloo Warriors in what was the regular season finale for both teams. With the win, the Gryphons end the season with an 11-13-3 record and finish sixth in the OUA's West Division. The Warriors fall to 17-8-2 and finish third in the OUA's West Division standings. That means these two teams will be seeing plenty of each other in the coming week, as they will square off in a best-of-three series in the opening round of the OUA playoffs.
In Saturday's game, the Warriors jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. The second period would prove to be a different story however, as the Gryphons got on the board less than two minutes in thanks to a goal from second year man Robert De Fulviis. De Fulviis, who recorded a hat trick in a 5-2 win over Western on Thursday (Feb. 5), would score his second of the night and fifth in two games later in the period to tie the game at 2-2. De Fulviis finishes the regular season as the Gryphons leading goal scorer with 14 goals in 26 games played. With four minutes remaining in the second period, Guelph's rookie goalie Andrew D'Agostini would absolutely rob Warriors forward Brett Mackie. With Waterloo breaking in on a two-on-one, the pass would find Mackie's stick, his one-timer seemed destined for the back of the net, but D'Agostini at full stretch would somehow get a pad on it to keep it out. Late in the period, Kyle Neuber would one-time home his eighth of the season to make it 3-2 Gryphons heading to the final period. Neuber finished the night with a goal and two assists.
A wild third period would start with the Warriors tying the game at 3-3 just 31 seconds in. After Jordan Mock made it 4-3 Guelph, the Warriors would answer back 62 seconds later to even it at 4-4. Near the mid-way point of the third period, the Gryphons would take the lead for the third time on the night as Carlos Amestoy (Toronto, ON) would fire a quick shot home to make it 5-4 Guelph. Amestoy, who also tallied three assists in the game, finished with a four-point night and rides a nine-game point streak into the postseason. The question was, could the Gryphons hold on this time?
With two minutes remaining in regulation, Warriors rookie forward Joel Hoekstra (Kitchener, ON) would be sent in all alone, but would fire wide. The Warriors would continue to throw everything they had at the net in the closing moments. A combination of some near misses and timely goaltending from D'Agostini would allow the Gryphons to hold on and come out on top of a wild 5-4 victory. Aside from scoring a pair of goals, De Fulviis also assisted on Amestoy's game-winner to finish with three points. D'Agostini made 26 saves for the win.
Note: Prior to the game, four graduating players were honoured on 'Senior Night' - players from left-to-right: Nick Huard, Michael Charbonneau (grey suit), Jordan Mock, Dan Broussard.
UQTR 3 @ Queen's 4
Patrick McGillis (Calgary) knotted the score in the final minute of play and Spencer Abraham(Campbellville, Ont.) deposited the shootout-winner as the men's hockey team topped the UQTR Patriotes 4-3 Saturday night at the Memorial Centre.
UQTR opened the scoring in the first frame as Carl-Antoine Delisle collected the tally on an unassisted effort. The Gaels responded at the 11:18 mark with a goal from Kelly Jackson (Scarborough, Ont.). Jackson buried the shot through the screen from the top of the circle after Eric Ming (Williamstown, Ont.) found him with the pass.
Queen's grabbed their first lead of the night in the opening five minutes of the middle period as Yannick Laflamme(Thetford Mines, Que.) deposited his fourth of the season. Ryan Bloom (Calgary) was credited with the lone assist after his aggressive forecheck forced a UQTR turnover. The Patriotes responded immediately to even the score on a goal from Anthony Verret.
UQTR grabbed the 3-2 advantage near the midway point of the final frame as Delisle registered his second of the evening. The Gaels battled hard and generated numerous scoring opportunities, eventually capitalizing with a powerplay tally from McGillis after pulling goaltender Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) in the final 10 seconds of play. McGillis blasted home the one-timer at the 19:53 mark to force overtime after Abraham found him with a terrific cross-ice pass.
A shootout would be required to determine the winner after two scoreless overtime periods. The Gaels sealed the victory and completed the upset after Abraham deposited the game-winner in the second round.
Final shots for the evening totalled 40 to 34 in favour of Queen's. Bailie was credited with the 31 save victory while UQTR's Francis Desrosiers was charged with the 36 save loss.
The Gaels finish the season in fifth place in the OUA East Division with a 13-12-1 record. Queen's will now face Laurentian in the first round of the OUA East playoffs next week.
Carleton 0 @ Laurentian 1 (SO)
Sixty minutes was not enough to separate the Carleton Ravens and Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday evening in Sudbury. Seventy minutes, including five minutes of 3-on-3, wasn't either.
Then, the game entered the magically cruel lottery known as the shootout, and Carleton was handed a 1-0 loss despite outshooting the Voyageurs 39-21 over the course of seventy minutes.
The first period went by quickly with minimal stoppages, just one penalty, and only thirteen shots combined between the two teams. Francis Dupuis turned aside the six he faced in the Carleton net, while Alain Valiquette made seven saves in the opening frame.
The Ravens took over the game in the second period, peppering Valiquette for fifteen shots to no avail – the former OHLer was on his game and unbeatable on the night.
The third period was a bit tighter, with the shot clock reading 11-7 Ravens in the period, and neither the Voyageurs nor the Ravens were able to break the deadlock.
Overtime solved nothing, and the game moved into a shootout.
Round one saw senior Mike Lomas miss for the Ravens on the opening shot before Brian Nanne beat Dupuis to put Laurentian up in the shootout.
Ravens forward Joey West failed to beat Valiquette in round two, and Marc-Alain Begin's attempt to bulge Ravens twine was fruitless.
Thus, up stepped Mike McNamee – shootout hero earlier this season against UQTR on Nov. 28th – in a must-score situation. The former Sherbrooke Phoenix forward couldn't beat Valiquette, and Laurentian escaped with both points.
Thanks to UQTR's losing in a shootout against Queen's mere minutes before Carleton fell in Sudbury, the Ravens are guaranteed the No. 2 seed in the OUA East playoffs. Marty Johnston's Ravens team is also guaranteed a first round playoff date with the UOIT Ridgebacks – the No. 7 seed – a team they outscored 17-4 in two regular season meetings.
However, playoffs are a whole different ball of wax, and Carleton will have to refocus for Game 1 – likely on Wednesday – against the Ridgebacks.
Sunday, February 8
Nipissing 2 @ Laurentian 3 (OT)
The Laurentian Voyageurs faced off against their northern rivals the Nipissing Lakers for the last regular season game, which needed over sixty minutes to complete with Laurentian coming out on top 3-2 in double overtime.
Although this game would not change anything with the standings, the Voyageurs being fourth in the division will play Queens University in the first round, Laurentian still wanted to keep their momentum going into the playoffs.
With Alain Valiquette (29) getting the night off, Charlie Millen (33) got the call in net. Right off the opening face-off, Brad MacDonald (18) had the first shot of the game, clearly ready to go. The first period was back and forth between both ends of the ice, each team getting their fair share of scoring chances. Millen (33) came up with a clutch pad save to keep the game scoreless after one.
The Lakers came out ready for the second period, Erik Robichaud (74), parked in front of the net, was able to tip it through the five-hole of Millen (33). Picking up assists were Jimmy McDowell (59) and Chad Tibodeau (77) on the goal that gave Nipissing a 1-0 lead.
The Lakers lead was short-lived after handing Laurentian a powerplay opportunity that they did not hesitate to benefit from. Vincent Llorca (17) passed over to Elliott Richardson (26), who found Marc-Alain Begin (91) in the perfect position. Begin (91), with a beautiful shot, scored his first goal of the season to knot up the game at ones.
Both teams pushed hard to earn a second goal, however both goalies seemed to want it more than the other. Finally, almost half way through the third period, the Voyageurs were able to beat Kirk Rafuse (33). During a scrum in front of the net, Mike MacDonald (26) passed the puck out of the crease right to the stick of Darcy Haines (9). Haines (9) put it in the wide open cage to earn Laurentian's first lead of the contest.
The Voyageurs followed the goal by taking a few penalties, Pachis (16) for elbowing and Nicolas Thommen (44) received four minutes for high-sticking. Laurentian was able to kill of the five-on-three but not the double minor. McDowell (59) put the puck straight through Millen's (33) five-hole, which tied up the game with seven minutes left.
For the second night in a row, Laurentian headed into overtime. Chris Smith (20) had the best scoring chance in the overtime period, he went top right corner but was denied by Rafuse's (33) glove. Sixty-five minutes solved nothing, double overtime was needed.
Just over a minute in, Smith picked up a turnover and passed the puck to Nicolas Dionne (19). Dionne (19) skated down the boards and passed it to the front of the net where Adam Glynn (4) was rushing towards. Glynn (4) popped the puck top corner, just beating the glove of Rafuse (33) giving him his first game-wining goal of the season.
The Voyageurs ended their regular season on a high note after picking up four points in their last two games, head coach Craig Duncanson commented on his teams play all season, "we set goals at the beginning of the season, the guys met our stretch goal. We got to finish in the top four of our division, which is quite a leap from where we came from last year and a real credit to their work ethic." Laurentian also earned home-ice advantage for the first round of playoffs, when asked about what his team needs to do to be ready for the next few games Duncanson said "It's not much different then it is each and every game. We got to be the hardest working team out there and hope for the best."
Other scores:
UQTR 5 @ RMC 2
