AROUND OUA: Patriotes snap Rams win streak

SCOREBOARD

Ryerson 3 @ UQTR 6

York 4 @ Western 2

Carleton 5 @ RMC 2

Brock 5 @ Lakehead 2

Laurier 4 @ Nipissing 5

UOIT 1 @ Queen's 4

McGill 4 @ Windsor 0

Toronto 3 @ Concordia 4

Waterloo 0 @ Laurentian 2

KINGSTON, ON – Playing their first game in over a month, the Ravens men's hockey team defeated the RMC Paladins with a 5-2 final Friday night at Constantine Arena. An early offensive explosion exposed a struggling Paladins group to the Ravens' scoring depth as nearly every offensive contribution came from a different player.

BOX SCORE

In net for the Ravens, Justin Nichols' (St. Catharines, ON) fourth start of the season saw him stop 26 shots for his second career U Sports win.

Within the game's opening seven minutes, the Ravens' attack forced the Paladins into damage control. A breakaway backhand from Curtis Meighan (Ottawa, ON) set off a trio of first period goals that would come from repeat lapses in RMC's defence.

Nearly a minute after Meighan blew past a pair of Paladins' defenders, Evan de Haan (Ottawa, ON) found an unmarked Sean Bamford (Ottawa, ON) for a net-front redirect goal. With RMC goaltender Austin Hannaford and his teammates focused on the left-side play of de Haan, Bamford was handed the leisure of an open right half of the net.

The back-to-back tallies were capped off less than two minutes later as Nathan Todd (Kemptville, ON), who made his debut in a Ravens sweater Friday night, picked up a Brent Norris (Ottawa, ON) pass in the RMC high slot before firing the puck past the glove of Hannaford. Todd's first career U Sports goal marked the third of three Ravens' goals in 2:50 of play, giving the visitors an early, comfortable lead.

As coach Marty Johnston's newest team addition, Todd, a former 50-point scorer with the OHL's Ottawa 67's who spent the first half of his 2016-17 season playing with the ECHL's Quad City Mallards, seemingly found his new teammates with ease as he jumped right into the mix.

Although their three-goal lead suggested a looming blowout, the remainder of the Ravens' 48 shots would be contested by a chasing RMC group. Notably, were it not for the ensuing heroics of Hannaford, the Paladins could have been trailing by double digits.

Throughout the remaining two-and-a-half periods, Hannaford was nearly perfect in turning aside an onslaught of breakaways, odd-man rushes, and power-play blasts. But with seven minutes remaining in the second period, Brett Welychka (London, ON) would end the first-year netminder's fortunes.

After stepping out of the penalty box, Welychka challenged Hannaford in a race for a Ravens' errant stretch pass. Arriving at the puck first, Hannaford's attempted clearance was batted down by Welychka, leaving the Ravens' second-year alternate with a wide-open net to bury his eighth goal of the year.

Midway through the final period, the Ravens' 4-0 lead would receive a momentary scare. After a Carleton slash, which added to the game's 68-total penalty minutes, sent their opponents to the man-advantage, the Paladins found life. Within two minutes, Matthew Michie and John Livingston potted a pair of in-tight goals to cut the Ravens' lead in half.

The Paladins' sudden boost in compete began to push the play consistently to their offensive zone. But with a composed Nichols shutting the door, the fearless blocking of Corey Durocher (Ottawa, ON) and Owen Werthner (Ottawa, ON), and an empty-net goal from captain Michael McNamee (Perth, ON), the Ravens successfully sealed their first win of 2017.

The win brings the Ravens to an 11-7-1 season record. After Friday's game, the team will return home to Ottawa as they look to spark some new year momentum against the visiting UOIT Ridgebacks.

Source: Carleton Ravens

Brock takes first game from Lakehead 5-2

THUNDER BAY, ON - The Brock University men's hockey team opened the second half of the season with a 5-2 road victory over the Lakehead Thunderwolves Friday Night at Fort Williams Gardens.

Lakehead opened the scoring 7:48 into the first period as Billy Jenkins registered his first goal of the season.

The Badgers answered with back-to-back goals just 32 seconds apart. At the 10 minute mark, Chris Maniccia (St. Catharines, ON) and Skylar Pacheco (Kitimat, BC) setup rookie Brandon Pears (Victoria, BC) who collected his third goal of the season, Just 32 seconds later, Pears and Dallas Rossiter (Surrey, BC) found Adam Lloyd (Orleans, ON) who buried it past Lakehead starter Devin Green for his ninth goal of the campaign.

The Thunderwolves evened it up at 2-2 just 12 seconds later, with a goal from Sam Schutt. Justin Sefton and Jake Ringuette added the assists.

Brock's offense continued to roll in the opening period, as Lloyd added his second of the night and 10th of the season with assists to Maniccia and Evan Morden (Swan River, MB) at 13:30. With 29 seconds remaining in the first, Greg Jambrosich (St. Catharines, ON) and Mack Lemmon (Newmarket, ON) found Ryan Purvis (Orillia, ON) who made it 4-2 after 20 minutes.

 Brock closed out the scoring with an empty net goal from Brody Silk (Iroquois Falls, ON) with 1:45 remaining in the game.

In his first game back since November 4th, Brock starting goaltender Clint Windsor (Burlington, ON) was solid registering 42 saves for his seventh victory of the season. In eight games this season, Windsor has a 7-0 record with a 2.09 GAA and .953 save percentage.

Brock Head Coach Murray Nystrom recorded his 200th career conference victory tonight in his hometown of Thunder Bay.

The Badgers are back in action Saturday night as they close out the weekend road series against the Lakehead Thunderwolves.

Source: Brock Badgers

Lakers get past Golden Hawks in OT

What a perfect way to start the New Year – an overtime victory.

The Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team came up big on home ice, erasing not one, not twice, but three deficits to come away with a thrilling 5-4 victory in the extra period.

Colin Campbell played the hero, scoring his second goal of the game midway through the five-minute sudden death frame to give Nipissing the bonus point.

Nipissing went about the victory the hard way, however, as they trailed 2-0 less than 10 minutes into the game.

They did manage to cut into that lead before the end of the first period, though, as Campbell scored his first of two on the power play.

Craig Campbell would tie the game in the second period, notching a power play goal as well.

Brock Morrison, Steve Deeg, Danny Desrochers and Nathan Glass all picked up helpers on the first two Lakers goals.

Laurier would once again grab the lead, scoring just over a minute after Campbell tied it.

And as they had already done, the Lakers fought back.

Morrison made it 3-3 late in the second frame and sent the teams to the intermission all even.

For a third time, the Golden Hawks would take the lead, but a goal by Dylan Staples just after the midway point of the third period tied the game at four and set up Campbell's heroics.

Set up by Chad Thibodeau and Morrison, Campbell gave Nipissing the victory and two points, as they continue to track down a playoff spot.

Morrison and Campbell each finished with three points and Domenic Graham made 30 saves, picking up the victory.

The Lakers will try to make it two in a row when they host the Waterloo Warriors Saturday night at 7:15pm at Memorial Gardens.

Source: Nipissing Lakers

No. 8 Gaels take down UOIT 4-1 to hold onto top spot in OUA East

KINGSTON, Ont. (January 6, 2017) - The No.8 Queen's Gaels (13-4-1) defeated the UOIT Ridgebacks (12-5-1) 4-1 on Friday night in OUA Men's Hockey action at the Memorial Centre in Kingston.

Prior to puck-drop Gaels goaltender Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) was honoured with the Murray Douglas Scholarsship for the third consecutive year. 

Murray Douglas, B.Comm. 1972, and Donna Douglas, Arts 1973, established the award to recognize the academic and athletic excellence of a varsity hockey player at Queen's University. Murray played varsity hockey for the Gaels from 1968 to 1972 and continues to be one of the Gaels most active alumni, making significant contributions to the program year after year. His continued interest in Queen's Hockey stems not only from his playing days, but largely due to the work of Dave Descent, the former Gael Force president, who acted as the varsity hockey manager during Murray's days at Queen's.

The award is designed to recognize excellence in both athletics and academics, as well to recognize an individual who leads by example and is looked up to by his teammates.

GAME FLOW
The Gaels and Ridgebacks took to the ice in a battle between two of the top programs in the OUA East this season.

Early on, the goaltenders were stealing the show for each team. In net for Queen's was Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) who made a highlight reel save off a UOIT fastbreak. Bailie was able to corral the puck off the shot then steer it into the corner to keep the game scoreless.

Next, Brendan O'Neill kept the Gaels off the board stopping point-blank attempts from Warren Steele (Williamsburg, Ont.) and Eric Ming (Williamstown, Ont.). 

Late in the frame the Gaels went to the man-advantage and with just three seconds left in the period Ryan Bloom (Calgary) fired a shot that squeaked through O'Neill to put the Gaels ahead 1-0.

In the second Queen's made it 2-0 with their second power play goal of the game. The Gaels worked the puck around well and found Steele open for a one-time at the top of the circle to O'Neills left and he made no mistake. Slater Doggett (Oakville, Ont.) and Spencer Abraham (Campbellville, Ont.) picked up the assists on the goal.

Abraham made it 3-0 Gaels in the third with a point shot that snuck through a crowd and found the back of the net. With under five minutes left the Ridgebacks scored to break up the shutout and the Gaels then added an empty-netter to seal the win 4-1.

FINAL SAY
"I think tonight was indicative of our practice habits this week. We had a few guys away at FISU camp and we came back and didn't miss a beat. In this league it's 28 games it's not a marathon it's a sprint so every two points is huge whether you are playing a top team or a bottom team so you can't take a night off." - Spencer Abraham

BY THE NUMBERS
3 - Assists for Slater Doggett
7 - Game point streak for Doggett
1st - The Gaels hold onto 1st place in the OUA East and sit one point ahead of McGill 

UP NEXT
The Gaels are back in action next Friday night as they travel to Montreal, Quebec to take on the McGill Redmen at 7pm. Watch it live on OUA.tv.

Source: Queen's Gaels

Guindon merits first career goose-egg as four-goal outburst propels hockey Redmen to win in Windsor

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Rookie Louis-Philip Guindon earned his first career shutout and McGill exploded for four goals in the second period as the hockey Redmen resumed OUA regular season play with a 4-0 road victory over the Windsor Lancers at South Windsor Arena, Friday.

It was the first rendez-vous between these distant clubs since Windsor edged McGill 2-1 in overtime in the OUA bronze medal game -- for a wildcard berth at Nationals -- on March 7, 2015. McGill improved to 9-8 in 17 lifetime meetings with the Lancers since they first crossed paths in 1985.

Guindon kicked aside 28 shots to merit his first collegiate shutout and improve his record to 8-3. He lowered his league-leading goals-against average to 1.90, and his save percentage now sits at .927.

The Redmen, who hadn't played in five weeks dating back to Dec. 3, held a 34-28 edge in shots and went a productive 2-for-4 on the power-play, while snuffing out all seven shorthanded situations.

"The guys were ready," said alternate captain Mathieu Pompei, who was kept off the scoresheet and tied for first place among OUA scoring leaders with 29 points in 18 games. "We had a great week of practice and today, when it was time to punch the clock, we did."

Defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti was credited with the game-winning tally on a power-play at 5:50 of the second period, converting passes from Jerome Verrier and Christophe Lalonde.  

Before the period was over, McGill put the game out of reach with three additional markers in a span of five minutes and six seconds. Rookie Jasmin Boutet struck for his first career goal to make it 2-0 at 13:03, assisted by his brother Etienne and Redgie Bois,

Exactly 60 seconds later, centre Simon Tardif-Richard, a junior from Gatineau, Que., connected on a power-play to make it 3-0, assisted by Bois and Lalonde. And four minutes after that, rookie Samuel Tremblay of St. Basil le Grand, Que., rounded out the scoring at 18:09, assisted by Alexandre Sills and Jan Kaminsky.

Starting goalkeeper Kris Joyce took the loss for Windsor. He was beaten four times on 26 shots in two periods of play as his record fell to 5-7. Blake Richard came on in relief for the final period and saved all eight shots faced.

McGill (13-3-2) and Windsor (10-8-2) meet again on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

Source: McGill Redmen

Blues fall on the road to the Stingers

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team dropped a narrow 4-3 decision to the Concordia Stingers on Friday night (Jan. 6) at Ed Meagher Arena in Montreal.
 
Second-year forward Aidan Wallace opened the scoring with a powerplay marker 7:07 into the game. Fellow sophomore forward Ryan Kirkup put the Blues up by two just over three minutes later and Wallace tallied his second of the game at the 14:47 mark to give Toronto a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.
 
The Stingers rallied and got on the board as Philippe Sanche scored on the man advantage 7:35 into the second period. Charles-Eric Legare brought Concordia within one with a shorthanded marker with 4:19 remaining in the second period. The Blues were up 3-2 heading into the final frame.
 
Concordia captain Olivier Hinse completed the comeback victory, tying the game 3:29 into the third period and notching the game-winner with 5:46 remaining in regulation.
 
Fourth-year Blues netminder made 21 saves in the loss.
 
The Varsity Blues are back in action tomorrow night as they travel to take on the UQTR Patriotes. The puck drops at 4 p.m.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues