Rams get crucial two points in win over RMC

TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams picked up a crucial two points in a 4-3 victory over the RMC Paladins on Saturday afternoon at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.    

With the win, the Rams improved to 7-6 on the year and gave the Paladins their 13th consecutive loss.

The start of this game was an interesting one.  A Brian Birkhoff (Richmond Hill, Ont.) holding penalty put the Rams down a man early in the first, but the penalty seemed to workout for the Rams.  Second year defenseman Alex Basso (Toronto) joined the rush and put a perfect placed wrist shot past Paladins starting goaltender Mathew Beirnes.  The Basso goal marked the first shorthanded goal of the season for the Rams but newly found shorthanded success didn't stop there. On the same penalty kill, a streaking Vince Figliomeni (Bolton, Ont.) sent a far side shot past Beirnes to give the Rams a 2-0 lead and to give them their second shorthanded goal on the same two minute minor.

After allowing back-to-back shorthanded goals the Paladins finally capitalized on the man advantage.  Captain Eric Louis-Seize chipped one past Rams starter Taylor Dupuis (New Liskeard, Ont.) for his fourth of the season.  Luis-Seize's goal was the third one scored in a minute and marked the third goal scored on the Birkhoff penalty. 

With three minutes to go in the opening frame, Deric Boudreau sent a shot towards the net and was then deflected by Paladins leading scorer Bruce Hornbrook.  Hornbrook's 15th point in as many games squared things up and sent the game to the first intermission all tied up at two. 

The Rams then restored their lead after a Luke Mercer (Brampton, Ont.) point shot went off the post and in.  The Mercer goal was the first of his CIS career and gave the Rams a 3-2 lead.  With a minute remaining in the third the Rams found twine again.  Aaron Armstrong sent a no look between the legs pass to Sam Blanchet who blasted home his second of the year giving the Rams a two goal lead.

Just 50 seconds later however, Michael Keenen snuck in from the point and put away a one timer with just nine seconds remaining in the period. Keenen's goal sent the Paladins into the second intermission down by a goal. 

That was as close as the Paladins would get in this one, thanks to Rams starting goaltender Taylor Dupuis who stopped 30 of the 33 shots he faced to record his second win of the season.

"The first one that went in on Dupuis was a fluke," said Ryerson head coach Graham Wise.  "But he responded well and made some big saves.  I think there's a big transition from Major Junior to the CIS but he's been making adjustments and getting better every game."  

With the loss, the Paladins now own a record of 1-10-3 on the season, but at times controlled the play in this game and tested the Rams throughout 60 minutes.

"There a hard working team," said Wise.  "They go hard for 60 minutes.  I think we played a real solid third period, spent most of the time in their end and in result we were able to come away with the win." 

The Rams will look to add to their win total this Thursday against the Laurier Golden Hawks.  The tilt will take place on Mattamy Home Ice and will wrap up a three game homestand for the Rams.  Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 pm and marks the last home game for the Rams until after the holiday break.  If you can't make it out to the MAC on Thursday you can stream the game live on OUA.TV.

Source: Ryerson Rams

Frantic finish comes up short against UOIT

Guelph, ON: Three unanswered goals in the third period and a frantic finish sees a four game winning streak snapped for the Gryphon's men's hockey team as they fall 4-3 to the UOIT Ridgebacks at the Gryphon Centre, Saturday afternoon.A controversial goal and a difficult 10 minute stretch in the third period saw a 2-0 Gryphons lead evaporate into a 4-2 Ridgebacks lead but the hosts had a chance late to mount a comeback as Dylan Gilbert made it a 4-3 game with 10.1 seconds left in regulation.  It looked like the hosts tied it up but Branden O'Neill's left pad held steady on the post to keep the puck out with less than a second left as the Ridgebacks held on.

It was a slow start for the Gryphons and the Ridgebacks as they were feeling each other out as both teams weren't giving much to either side defensively and doing a great job at closing down on the puck carrier. Both goalies weren't busy for the first 10 minutes of the period as they barely faced any rubber with both defenses thwarting the attack of the opposition and not allowing pucks to get to the net but as the period went on, the shot total started to rise. The Gryphs started to break through the UOIT defense getting pucks to the net and they were rewarded with a little help as the iron was very kind to Cody Thompson as his wrister found the woodwork and in at 15:50 in the first as the Gryphs took the lead. The Ridgebacks started to apply more pressure on Andrew D'Agostini as he stood tall stopping all eight shots he saw in the period.

The Gryphons continued the momentum into the second period as Kyle Neuber from the top of the right faceoff circle capitalized on a 2 on 1 from a pretty pass from Thompson as the low shot snuck past Brendan O'Neill's right pad and tucked it inside the post to double the lead for the Gryphons at 3:35 in the period. However, the fortunes would change for Guelph at the 9:42 mark after it appeared that a Ridgeback player played the puck with a broken stick that went undetected by the officials and UOIT converted as Alex Derlis goes around the net on a wraparound and buries it into the open net.

Both teams continued their strong defensive play forcing the opposition into low percentage shots as there wasn't a lot of space to work with. U of G got a bit undisciplined at the end taking two penalties that would give UOIT a 5 on 3 for 53 seconds to end the second. To start the third period, the Gryphons would kill the remainder of the penalties and hold the Ridgebacks only allowing one shot on net. But just as Guelph seized momentum on the penalty kill, the Ridgebacks would strike back.James Woodcroft would sneak in behind the Gryphons defense all alone after a bad neutral zone giveaway as he makes a move to his forehand to backhand and finds the top of the net to beat D'Agostini to tie the game up at 2:53. Four minutes later, UOIT would take the lead off a harmless point shot from Loren Ulett from the top of the blueline that was tipped off of Luke vanMoerkerke's stick, off D'Agostini's glove and the back of the net to give the Ridgebacks a 3-2 lead. Penalties would come back to haunt the Gryphons as the Ridgebacks would get another 5 on 3 for 56 seconds and they would convert as Ben Blasko buries one from between the top of the faceoff circles with the two man advantage to make it 4-2.  Four unanswered goals for UOIT and it was enough for the visitors to hang on in the end.

Penalties and neutral zone giveaways did in the Gryphons as the Ridgeback capitalized on the opportunities given to them despite a very strong game from Guelph.

Thompson had himself a two point afternoon and D'Agostini stopped 20 of 24 shots in a tough loss. The Gryphons are now 7-6 on the season and play in Ottawa on Friday, November 27 as they face the Carleton Ravens.

Source: Guelph Gryphons

Great effort falls short for Lakers

In what had a playoff type atmosphere to it, the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team and UQTR Patriotes battled for every inch of the ice, for all 60 minutes of Saturday's game.

In the end, the Patriotes walked away with a 5-3 victory, ending the Lakers impressive run of five straight wins, but it was far from easy for the second place squad based in Quebec.

The first period was just one goal and it came off the stick of one of the many Patriotes snipers.

UQTR took that lead to the first intermission, but things would open up offensively and physically from that point on.

Four of the next seven goals would be scored on the power play – two by each team.

The Lakers would tie the game thanks to a great one-timer from Chad Thibodeau, set up on a pretty feed from Guillaume Naud and Erik Robichaud.

Before the period was out, however, the Patriotes would grab the lead back and enter the second intermission the same as they entered the first – up one goal.

In the third, early on, the Lakers would once again tie things up thanks to Robichaud's goal and second point of the evening.

From there, UQTR would score goals less than two minutes apart to go up 4-2 later in the third period.

Steven Deeg scored to cut the lead thanks to great work down low by his line. He forced the puck to the front of the net and on a second effort, snuck it in to cut the lead to just one.

Unfortunately, that's as close as the Lakers would get and UQTR would seal the game with an empty-netter with 38 seconds left.

The Patriotes ended up outshooting the Lakers 28-24 and Kirk Rafuse took the loss, despite playing another solid game in between the pipes.

Nipissing will now prepare to face their northern rivals, the Laurentian Voyageurs Saturday night on home ice.

Source: Nipissing Lakers

Brock falls to Laurier 5-2

Waterloo, Ont. - The Brock University men's hockey team (5-6-3 OUA) dropped a 5-2 decision to the Laurier Golden Hawks (5-7-0) Saturday night at the Sun Life Arena.

Brock opened the scoring 2:51 into the opening period as Chris Maniccis (St. Catharines, Ont.) setup Mitch Nardi (Hamilton, Ont.) for his eighth goal of the season.

Just over thirty seconds later, the Golden Hawks would tie the game 1-1 on a goal from Mackenzie Braid. Matthew Franczyk and Kyle Morrison added the assists.

Laurier would take a 2-1 lead with 3:25 left in the first period as Greg Cerilli added a power play marker.

In the second period, the Golden Hawks took a 3-1 lead just 11 seconds in, as Eric Pushka beat Brock goaltender Clint Windsor (Hamilton, Ont.) for his first goal of the season. Brock would cut the lead to one at 1:56, as Jake Cardwell (Niagara Falls, Ont.) found Brody Silk (Iroquois Falls, Ont.) who put it past Laurier starter Colin Furlong for his third of the campaign.

In the final five minutes of the second period, Laurier would get goals from Cerilli, his second of the game, and Derek Schoenmakers, to take a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.

In goal, Windsor suffered the loss allowing three goals on 10 shots. Real Cormier (Trenton, Ont.) played the final 40 minutes registering 17 saves. Laurier's Furlong turned aside 34 of 36 shots he faced for the victory.

The Badgers return to action next weekend when they are on the road against Concordia and UQTR.

Source: Brock Badgers

Lancers fall to visiting Thunderwolves

The Lancer men's hockey team dropped a 5-2 decision to the visiting Lakehead Thunderwolves on Saturday night at South Windsor Arena.
 
With the loss, the Lancers fall to 7-5-2 and sit in third place in the OUA west division while the Thunderwolves picked up their first win of the season on Saturday and improve to 1-10-1.
 
The first period was very back and forth with both teams trading chances early. Lakehead opened the scoring on a power play goal by E.J. Faust and was assisted by Justin Sefton and  Carson Dubchak.
 
The Lakehead lead did not last long as a minute after their goal the Lancers tied it up on a goal from Tyson Ness. The goal was assisted by Scott Prier and Eric Noel.
 
In the second period the Lancers came out firing and it paid off when Mike Cristou flipped one into the back of the net to put the Lancers up by one seven minutes into the frame.
 
Lakehead started to press once they fell behind and it paid off at 13:23 in the second when Dylan Butler sailed one into the top of the net while alone in the slot, tying  the game once again.
 
The third period was all Lakehead after a quick start; the play went back and forth for a while until 9:26 when Cody Alcock scored to give them the lead.
 
The Thunderwolves then extend the lead by two more with goals coming at 13:58 from Jake Ringuette and Sam Schutt at 14:50.
 
Blake Richard made 44 saves in net for the Lancers in the loss while Devin Green picked up the win for the visitors making 42 saves.
 
The Lancers hit the road next weekend for a pair of games against the Waterloo Warriors and Laurier Golden Hawks before returning home on Wednesday December 2nd against the visiting Western Mustangs. The puck drops at 7:30pm and the game can be seen live at www.oua.tv.

Source: Windsor Lancers

Hunt stands tall in loss to Ravens

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team dropped a 4-1 decision to the Carleton Ravens on Saturday night (Nov. 21) at Varsity Arena.
 
With the loss, the Blues drop to 4-7-2 and remain in seventh place in the OUA West division, while the Ravens improve to 9-3-0 and move up to fourth in the East.
 
In his second start in as many nights, third-year goalie Andrew Hunt stood on his head, posting 34 saves in the loss.
 
The Ravens controlled the play in the first period, as Hunt posted 14 saves to keep the game scoreless after 20 minutes.
 
The Blues did have a great chance to open the scoring late in the frame as Dylan Heide came out of the penalty box and found himself on a 2-on-1 with rookie Mathew Campagna, but Ravens goalie Patrick Killeen came up with a nice stop.
 
Toronto did open the scoring 2:41 into the second after a nice backcheck from Campagna allowed him to feed Max Flanagan a breakaway pass. The second-year forward from Edmonton made no mistake, slotting the puck over Killeen's glove for his third goal of the season.
 
The Ravens responded midway through the second as third-year defenceman Owen Werthner notched a shorthanded marker off a 2-on-1 opportunity to even the score at 1-1.
 
Carleton went ahead just four minutes later after a scramble in front of the Blues net resulted in a Hayden Hulton go-ahead goal. Toronto came up with some big penalty killing to close out the second frame down by one.
 
In the third, the pressure continued for both squads as Hunt and Killeen showcased strong periods. However, with two minutes remaining in the game the Ravens found an insurance marker courtesy Ryan Van Stralen who converted a partial break to make it a 3-1 game.

The Blues would pull Hunt to take a man advantage in the final minute looking to get themselves back into the game but an empty-net goal from Corey Durocher sealed the Ravens victory.
 
The Varsity Blues are back in action next weekend (Nov. 27-28) as they travel to Thunder Bay for two games versus the Lakehead Thunderwolves. Game time on both nights is 7 p.m.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Voyageurs stung by Concordia

The Laurentian Voyageurs Men's Hockey team lost a hard fought battle Saturday to the Concordia Stingers. The final score was 5-3.

Coming off a loss to UQTR Friday night, the Voyageurs hoped for a better outcome against the Stingers. However, the night did not start out as planned, as less than 2 minutes into the first period, Concordia scored a goal to take a quick 1-0 lead. The Stingers continued this trend throughout the first, and finished the opening frame with a 3-0 lead over the Voyageurs.

However, Laurentian's Men were not willing to quietly lose. Midway through the second period, after both teams traded power plays, Brian Nanne took a pass from Brandon Francisco and got the Voyageurs on the board, 3-1. It wasn't long after that Brian Pederson scored on a 2 on 1 slap shot to cut Concordia's lead to 1. It stayed that way until the end of the second.

Unfortunately, Laurentian's good fortunes didn't follow them to the 3^rd period. Following a controversial penalty early in the third, Concordia scored with a little over 16 minutes left in the game to bring the score to 4-2. It stayed that way until late in the third, when Laurentian thought they scored a goal with their own net empty. Unfortunately, the refs did not see it that way and the goal was called off. However, a few moments later, Elliott Richardson scored to cut the Stingers' lead back to 1. Despite the onslaught of Laurentian offense, Concordia scored on an empty net to end the game 5-3.

This was the Men's final home game of 2015, however they play again next Saturday at Nipissing.

Source: Laurentian Voyageurs