AROUND OUA: Rams upset West divison leading Lions

ARams upset West division leading Lions

TORONTO - Brandon Devlin scored 33 seconds into overtime to give the Ryerson Rams men's hockey team a 4-3 victory over the OUA West division leading York Lions on Friday night.

BOXSCORE

Marcus Hinds gave the Rams a 1-0 lead with his second of the season midway through the opening period. Ryerson would go up 2-0 just before the end of the frame on Brian Birkhoff's first of the year.

The two-goal lead would hold until York's Trevor Petersen scored to make it 2-1 with just under five minutes to go in the second period.

Petersen's second of the night just 45 seconds into the third period tied it at 2-2. Hinds would respond for the Rams five minutes later and Ryerson led 3-2. York's Shane Rover snuck a rebound behind Ryerson goaltender Troy Passingham with 1:51 remaining in regulation time that set the stage for Devlin's power play goal in overtime.

Michael Fine and Jamie Lewis each finished the night with three assists, while Passingham made 30 saves. York's Chris Perugini stopped 26 of Ryerson's 30 shots.

With the win, the Rams improve to 13-13 and into sole possession of sixth place in the OUA West division. Ryerson has earned a playoff spot for the seventh straight year. York remains first in the West with a record of 15-6-4.

The Rams will visit the Toronto Varsity Blues (10-13-2) Saturday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Varsity Arena.

Source: Ryerson Rams

Ridgebacks point streak ends in Waterloo

WATERLOO, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team had their six-game point streak come to an end on Friday night with an 8-4 loss in a wild game against the Waterloo Warriors.
 
Waterloo led 2-1 midway through the second period and that is when the floodgates opened. In less than a six-minute span, the teams combined for six goals, with Waterloo coming out of the chaos with a 6-3 lead.
 
Riley Sonnenburg, who scored the final goal of the second period, would tack on two more in the third to record a hat-trick and give the Warriors eight goals on the night.
 
Sonnenburg was one of four Warriors to have a multi-point game. Mike Moffat scored two goals and an assist while Stephen Silas and Colin Behenna each had a goal and an assist. Behenna's second period goal was the 50^th in his OUA career.
 
Jesse Stoughton (Bobcaygeon, Ont.) opened up scoring for UOIT for the second straight game. In ten games in 2016, Stoughton has recorded 11 points to bring his season total to 20.
 
James Woodcroft (Milton, Ont.) also found the back of the net for his fifth straight game, extending his point-streak to seven games.
 
Other goal scorers for UOIT included Ryan Doucette (Waterloo, Ont.) and Mike Robinson (Stouffville, Ont.).
 
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) was in net for all eight goals which was a season high against. Mike Morrison stopped 30 Ridgeback shots for his tenth win.
 
UOIT (16-8-2) remains three points ahead of the Queen's Gaels (15-7-1) who were idle on Friday night. The Ridgebacks will be scoreboard watching this weekend with Queen's in action against Waterloo (Saturday) and Laurier (Sunday).
 
The Ridgebacks will close out their regular season next weekend at home with games against Laurentian (Friday) and Nipissing (Saturday). Puck drop for both games is 7:30 p.m.

Source: UOIT Ridgebacks

Blues fall to 'Stangs but clinch playoff berth

Despite a narrow 4-3 loss to the Western Mustangs on Friday night (Feb. 5) at Varsity Arena, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues have clinched a 2015-16 OUA West playoff berth.

With three games remaining in their regular season schedule, the Blues have clinched a playoff spot with a 10-13-2 record. The Brock Badgers and Lakehead Thunderwolves have both been eliminated in the West division.

Toronto opened the scoring just 4:39 into the game when rookie forward Mathew Campagna capitalized on a Western turnover, wiring the puck into the top corner of the net.

The Mustangs evened the score when Andrew Goldberg found the mesh eight minutes later and the game remained tied 1-1 after 20 minutes.

The Blues went ahead when Aidan Wallace found the far side of the net off a 2-on-1 opportunity six minutes into the second period. Connor Cleverly put the Blues up by two, firing the puck blocker side on another 2-on-1 chance.

But the Mustangs inched their way back, first when Noah Schwartz notched a powerplay marker towards the end of the second period and then Western evened the game with a Jonathan Laser tally 2:07 into the third.

Schwartz scored the eventual game-winner five minutes later and despite their best efforts, the Blues were unable to come back.

Third-year netminder Andrew Hunt made 26 saves in the loss.

The Varsity Blues are back in action tomorrow night as they host the Ryerson Rams at Varsity Arena at 7:30 p.m. The game will cap off the U of T SAMHI (Student-Athlete Mental Health Initiative) organization's first-ever 'Mental Health Matchup' weekend.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Gryphons win big in first of back-to-back games with Thunderwolves

GUELPH, ON - A complete team effort Friday night propelled the Gryphons men's hockey team to a resounding 6-2 win over the visiting Lakehead Thunderwolves. With the win, the Gryphons improvce to 15-11-0 while Lakehead falls to 6-15-4. Six different Gryphons registered multi-point nights, highlighted by Carlos Amestoy who picked up three assists in the game. 

Second year forward Scott Simmonds was one of those six players to record a multi-point night. Early in the second period, Simmonds picked up his second point by scoring an absolute beauty of a goal to put the Gryphons up 3-1. After taking a pass from Cody Thompson just inside the blue line, Simmonds turned the Lakehead defender inside-out with a toe drag before firing the puck top shelf short side for his fourth goal of the season.

Third year forward Rob De Fulviis celebrated his 24th birthday by picking up a pair of assists, but not everybody was in a celebratory mood Friday night at the Gryphon Centre. Things got heated just over a month ago when these two teams met up for a pair of exhibition games over the Christmas break in North Bay. That bad blood seemed to carry over into Friday's contest and in the first period alone, Lakehead was penalized for a check-to-the-head, as well as a double minor for spearing. The Gryphons were able to capitalize on that early man advantage, as Captain Nick Trecapelli's power play goal gave the Gryphons a 2-1 lead after one period of play. 

The Gryphons would break things open in the second period, outscoring Lakehead 3-0 in that frame. The highlight reel goal by Simmonds in that second period was followed by a pair of goals from Robert Lepine, who now has three goals in his last two games after having also scored against Laurier Tuesday night. Gryphons second year centre Andres Kopstals capped the scoring in the third period and also extended his own goal scoring streak to two games after having found the back of the net against the Golden Hawks as well. 

Rookie sensation Dylan Gilbert notched his team-leading 12th goal of the season for the Gryphons, who will turn right back around and do it all over again with the

Rob Massey honoured pre-game after having covered Gryphon sports for over 30 yearsThunderwolves on Saturday night. Puck drop for the second game of this back-to-back showdown is set for 7:30pm.

The Gryphons currently sit 3rd in a log-jammed OUA West division with just two games remaining on their regular season schedule. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Prior to the game, Rob Massey was honoured by the Gryphons and performed the ceremonial puck drop. Massey spent over 30 years covering Gryphon sports prior to last week's announcement that the Guelph Mercury would no longer print newspapers after 149 years of publications. The Gryphons would like to thank Rob and all of the staff at the Mercury for all of their hard work in helping support and promote Gryphon Athletics over the years!

Source: Guelph Gryphons

Impressive effort leads Lakers to win over Ravens

If the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team wanted to send the rest of the OUA's East Division a message – consider that message sent.

The Lakers turned in likely their best effort of the season as they came up with a gritty 4-1 win over the powerful Carleton Ravens Friday night on home ice.

In a possible preview of the first round playoffs, the Lakers and Ravens a playoff style game with lots of physical play, a great pace and even some after the whistle festivities.

But in the end, Nipissing prevailed thanks to being disciplined, getting strong goaltending and capitalizing on their chances.

Carleton opened the scoring just before the midway point of the first period when Joey West slipped a rebound past Lakers goalie Domenic Graham, who was very strong in net, allowing just the one goal.

Less than four minutes later, Colin Campbell made a nice pass to linemate Guillaume Naud who went in on a breakaway and made a great move, putting a backhand home to tie the game.

Jimmy McDowell added the other assist on the goal.

After a scoreless second period that saw a lot of hitting and tough play, the Lakers opened things up in the third.

Craig Campbell gave Nipissing the lead just after the five minute mark in the final stanza, tapping home a rebound after a point shot by Sam Gleason.

Mackenzie Keirstead picked up the other assist, making a strong pass along the blueline to Gleason.

Just after the halfway point, Colin Campbell scored a beauty, one-timing a slick feed from Erik Robichaud into the back of the net to give the Lakers a 3-1 lead.

The Ravens pushed back, but the Lakers held on and Robichaud, picking up his second point of the game, sealed the win with an empty-netter with 39 seconds left in the game.

Robichaud and both Campbells – Colin and Craig – finished with a goal and an assist.

Harrison Harper also found the scoresheet, picking up a helper on Nipissing's third goal.

Graham was very good between the pipes, finishing with 26 saves.

The Lakers have now won three in a row and will look to make it four when they host the UQTR Patriotes Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Memorial Gardens

Source: Nipissing Lakers