AROUND OUA: Warriors top Gryphons, extend streak to half-dozen
If there was any doubt that the Waterloo Warriors had completely righted their ship after a mid-November swoon, they were erased Saturday night.
SCOREBOARD
Six Pack: Warriors top Gryphons, extend streak to half-dozen
If there was any doubt that the Waterloo Warriors had completely righted their ship after a mid-November swoon, they were erased Saturday night.
The Warriors used timely scoring and a dominating forecheck to topple the defending OUA champion Guelph Gryphons 3-1 in their 2016 home debut, extending their winning streak to six games while handing Guelph their first loss in their last five.
Colin Behenna (Waterloo), Andrew Smith (Kitchener), and Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge) scored for the Warriors, while goaltender Mike Morrison (Hamilton) made 24 stops in the victory. The win pushes the Warriors to 10-8-0 on the season, and positions them just two points behind a trio of teams – including the Gryphons – for second place in the OUA West.
Dylan Gilbert scored Guelph's only goal of the night, an unassisted marker early in the second. Andrew D'Agostini made 29 saves in the loss, his first since November 21.
Behenna got the Warriors on the board first when he converted a gorgeous end-to-end rush and feed from Mike Moffat (Waterloo) on the power play. After Gilbert squared things at 1-1 in the second period, the physical play intensified – a total of eight minors were called in the middle frame, and every whistle was punctuated by an exchange of pleasantries.
Just over six minutes into the third period, the Warriors broke the deadlock for good when Smith found Daniel Perigo (Truro) joining the rush from off the bench. Perigo slid a beautiful return feed to Smith, who made no mistake on the give-and-go for a 2-1 Waterloo lead.
The Gryphons couldn't mount much of a late surge against the staunch Warriors forecheck, as Guelph often found trouble even exiting their own zone. With less than three minutes to play, Sonnenburg salted the game away with a wicked wrister that beat D'Agostini to the blocker side.
The Warriors will now look to extend their winning streak next weekend, when they welcome a pair of OUA East division opponents. First, they'll face the Laurentian Voyageurs on January 15, before hosting the Nipissing Lakers on January 16. Both games are slated for 7pm at the Columbia Icefield Arena.
Source: Waterloo Warriors
CIS ranked Patriotes take first half of home-and-home series
TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QUE. – In the first half of their home-and-home series against the No. 5 ranked UQTR Patriotes, UOIT hung tough but failed to earn a win.
Trailing 2-1 in the second period, UQTR would score four unanswered goals to pick up the victory on home ice. The teams will meet again in Oshawa on Friday, January 15 with puck drop at the Campus Ice Centre scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Ridgeback captain Luke VanMoerkerke (Tillsonburg, Ont.) recorded his fifth goal of the season less than a minute into the second, setting the trend for the remainder of the period.
Over a two-minute span, the two teams would score three goals with UQTR getting two of them to tie the game. Ben Blasko (Kingston, Ont.) would score for UOIT, his second goal in as many nights. Mike Robinson (Stouffville, Ont.) and Alex Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) would pick up assists on the play.
When it looked as if the teams would head into the locker room tied, Pierre-Maxime Poudrier scored on a late UQTR power play to put the Patriotes in front. UQTR would carry that momentum into the third period as they added on two more goals en route to their league leading 16th win of the season.
UOIT managed to hold OUA goal leader Guillaume Asselin scoreless, but the third year forward hurt them with his play-making ability recording four assists. Pierre-Olivier Morin also had a four-point night with two goals and two assists.
Penalties would end up hurting UOIT as UQTR had eight power play opportunities compared to just two for the Ridgebacks.
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) made 26 saves in the loss while Sebastien Auger had 26 stops in his 16th win. The two netminders are one-two in league saves and minutes played.
UOIT (11-6-1) remains one point ahead of Queen's (11-4-0) who were idle on Saturday night. The Gaels have three games in hand on the Ridgebacks.
Source: UOIT Ridgebacks
Tough start to 2016 for Lakers in 5-1 loss to Redmen
With how tight the OUA East Division is, every point is crucial and while they were up against a very tough McGill Redmen team, the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team won't be happy with how their first game of 2016 went.
The Lakers fell behind early and were unable to comeback in a physical, chippy affair that saw two misconducts and one game misconduct and an eventual 5-1 Redmen victory.
The Redmen struck first at the 8:36 mark of the first period to open the scoring.
Dominic Talbot-Tassi scored and picked up his first of three points on the night. Mathieu Pompei, who was front and centre all night, picked up one assist and David Rose earned the other.
McGill would extend their lead to 2-0 just over a minute later when Simon Tardif-Richard scored his first of two on the game.
In the second period, the Redmen made it 3-0 thanks to a power play goal just three minutes into the period.
The Lakers would respond, however, as Colin Campbell found the back of the net while Nipissing was on a 5-on-3 man advantage.
Guillaume Naud and Dylan Staples earned helpers on Campbell's team-leading ninth of the season.
McGill regained a three goal lead less than three minutes later when Liam Heelis tallied to make it 4-1.
And just before the period was out, Tardif-Richard scored his second of the game to make it 5-1 for the Redmen heading into the final period.
While there was no scoring, there was plenty of excitement in the third period, as the teams picked up their physical play.
A few scrums and misconducts were handed out, but in the end, McGill walked away with the two points.
Domenic Graham got the start in net for the Lakers, allowing five goals in 25 shots through 40 minutes, while Kirk Rafuse was strong in the third, turning aside all 10 shots sent his way.
McGill outshot the Lakers 35-20 overall.
Nipissing (8-7-3) will now hit the road for a pair of games, facing Waterloo (10-8-0) Saturday and Laurier (8-9-0) Sunday for their first road trip of 2016.
Source: Nipissing Lakers
The Lakehead Thunderwolves' three-game winning streak ended with an 8-2 loss to the Carleton Ravens in front of 2009 fans at the Fort William Gardens on Saturday night.
Lakehead got on the board first when Billy Jenkins scored on Ravens' netminder Francis Dupuis 5:51 into the game, with Luke Maw and Garick Gray getting the assists.
Carleton responded with goals by Sean Bamford, Clark Veenstra and Corey Durocher to take a 3-1 lead heading into the second.
Already down two goals, it was early in the middle frame when things really started to unravel for the Wolves. Penalties cost Lakehead dearly as the Ravens displayed a lethal power play by adding two more tallies from Jeremie Fraser and Alexandre Boivin before the period was six minutes old.
Jenkins notched his second of the night while the Wolves held the man-advantage to narrow the gap to 5-2 just past the midway point of the game. Kelin Ainsworth and Carson Dubchak picked up the helpers.
Carleton continued to pour it on in the third, adding three more goals by Joey West, Brett Welychka and Curtis Meighan to round out the scoring.
Wolves' goalie Devin Green saw plenty of rubber on the night as Carleton outshot Lakehead 45-23.
The Ravens went 3-for-10 on the power play, while the Thunderwolves were 1-for-6.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1. Clark Veenstra, Carleton
2. Billy Jenkins, Lakehead
3. Ryan Van Stralen, Carleton
Lakehead's home stand will continue through next weekend when the Ryerson Rams visit the Gardens in a key division match-up.
Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves
Golden Hakws fall in tight battle with Mustangs
WATERLOO, Ont. (January 9, 2016) – The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's hockey team had their two-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night as they lost 2-1 to the Western Mustangs at the Waterloo Recreation Complex.
After dropping a 6-1 decision to the Mustangs earlier this season, the Hawks were the stronger team on this night as they fired 47 shots on the Western goal. However, the purple and gold were only able to solve Mustangs goalie Greg Dodds of Wingham, Ont., once as they dropped to 8-10-0 on the season.
Cody Brown of Wasaga Beach, Ont., and Sean Callaghan of Strathroy, Ont., scored first period goals for Western (11-8-0) while Christian Mroczkowski of Wellesley, Ont., replied for the Hawks.
For Mroczkowski, his second period goal extended his point streak to four games and he has two goals and four assists during that stretch.
Colin Furlong of Cambridge, Ont., suffered the loss in goal for Laurier as he made 33 saves.
The defeat keeps Laurier tied for seventh in the OUA West division with the Brock Badgers at 16 points while the Mustangs move into a three-way tie for second place in the division with 22 points.
The Hawks will look to return to the win column next Saturday as they continue their four-game homestand against the Laurentian Voyageurs (6-9-3). Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. at the Waterloo Recreation Complex.
Source: Laurier Golden Hawks
The Lancer men's hockey team doubled up on the visiting Brock Badgers on Saturday night, defeating the visitors 4-2 at South Windsor Arena.
With the win, the Blue & Gold improve to 10-7-2 on the year and are in a three way tie for second place with the Guelph Gryphons and Western Mustangs.
The Badgers opened the scoring 3:52 into the first period as Skylar Pacheco and Mitch Nardi setup Josh Timpano on the power play.
With six minutes left in the second period, Windsor evened the game 1-1 as Justice Dundas and Dane Phaneuf found Eric Noel, who buried home his eighth goal of the campaign with a power play marker. The Lancers would make it 2-1 with 2:58 left in the second as Tyler Ness collected his seventh goal of the season, with Noel and Dundas adding the assists.
Just 28 seconds into the third period, Ness would add his second goal of the night beating Brock starter Clint Windsor to give the Lancers a 3-1 lead.,
Brock cut the lead to one at 8:23 of the third as Andrew Coupland and Dan Tanel setup Greg Jambrosich for his second goal of the season.
With the Brock goalie pulled for the extra-attacker, Dylan Denomme would secure the win with an empty netter with 45 seconds left in regulation.
Lancer goaltender Michael Doan turned aside 40 shots to earn the win, while Windsor recorded an impressive 55 saves in the loss for the Badgers.
The Lancers will hit the road next weekend for a pair of games against the Toronto Varsity Blues and Guelph Gryphons.
Source: Windsor Lancers
