Petaccio’s hat trick leads UOIT past Toronto, 6-3
OSHAWA, Ont. – Mark Petaccio (Sicklerville, N.J.) recorded his first career OUA hat trick on Thursday night as UOIT doubled up the Toronto Varsity Blues 6-3.
OSHAWA, Ont. – Mark Petaccio (Sicklerville, N.J.) recorded his first career OUA hat trick on Thursday night as UOIT doubled up the Toronto Varsity Blues 6-3.
The win marked the third straight for UOIT on home ice, as they improve to 4-2-1 at the Campus Ice Centre. The Ridgebacks will look to tack on one more win at home in 2015 as they host the Ryerson Rams on Friday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Petaccio got the Ridgebacks on the board with the lone goal in the first period, showing patience on a wrap around following a give-and-go with teammate Ben Blasko (Kingston, Ont.).
After the break UOIT would come out of the gate flying, kicked off with defender Jeff Braithwaite (Ennismore, Ont.) scoring his first of the season 54 seconds in.
The Ridgebacks would tack on three more goals in the period, including two off the stick of Petaccio, completing the hat-trick. Petaccio has ten goals this season to sit fifth in OUA scoring and has recorded three multi-goal games.
Ryan Doucette (Waterloo, Ont.) was the other Ridgeback goal scorer in the period giving him six on the year.
Ridgeback captain Luke VanMoerkerke (Tillsonburg, Ont.) would score three minutes into the third period, giving him 81 career points and extending the UOIT lead to 6-1.
Toronto would show a lot of fight scoring back-to-back goals late in the third but they would eventually run out of time as the Ridgebacks earned their tenth win of the season. The loss ends Toronto's two-game win streak.
Five Ridgebacks would end up with multi-point nights. Petaccio led the way with three goals while Alex Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) had three assists. Doucette had one goal and an assist. Both Alex Derlis (Campbellford, Ont.) and Blasko ended up with two assists apiece. Blasko leads the team with 13 assists.
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) looked impressive in net making 18 saves for the victory. Andrew Hunt was pulled after allowing five goals on 30 shots and Brett Willows stopped six of seven UOIT third period shots in relief.
UOIT would score on their lone power play attempt while holding Toronto scoreless on four attempts with the man advantage.
The Ridgebacks (10-4-1) leapfrog Carleton (10-4-0) for third place in the OUA eastern conference standings. Toronto slips to 6-8-2 on the year.
Friday's game against Ryerson will be the Ridgebacks annual Holiday Food Drive night. Fans will receive free admission with a donation to the food drive as well as have a chance to win Maple Leafs tickets and other great prizes in the puck toss competition.
Source: UOIT Ridgebacks
