AROUND OUA: Blues upset No. 10 ranked Patriotes

The Ottawa Gee-Gees men's hockey team started 2017 on the right foot with an 8-1 win over the RMC Paladins on Saturday night at the Constantine Arena in Kingston, Ontario.

Kevin Domingue (Laval, Que.) led the way offensively for uOttawa (8-7-3) with a four-point effort (2G, 2A), while Graham Hunt (Concord, Mass.) put in a strong 31-save performance.

"I liked our effort and execution," said uOttawa head coach Patrick Grandmaitre. "We worked hard, matched their intensity and then executed through that — we played smart and kept at it for a full 60-minute effort."

The Gee-Gees began brightly, as Quinn O'Brien (Campbell's Bay, Que.) opened the scoring just 40 seconds into Saturday's contest. Mathieu Newcomb (Grand-Digue, N.B.) then doubled the lead at the 5:40 mark, rifling a snapshot past RMC goaltender Matt Murphy.

Jeremy Fiset's (Barraute, Que.) first goal as a Gee-Gee, a powerplay cannon at 16:27 of the first period, promptly chased Murphy from the RMC net, with backup Austin Hannaford coming on in relief for the hosts.

Antoine Pouliot (Lévis, Que.), Jake Harris (Georgetown, Ont.) and Domingue — twice — all found the net for uOttawa in a scrum-filled, 69-minute slough of a second period. Mitch Hewson picked up the lone marker for RMC in the middle frame, and the Gee-Gees headed into the second intermission leading 7-1.

The third period passed with relatively little excitement and a solitary late marker from defenceman Adam Beveridge (Ottawa, Ont.) on the powerplay.

The uOttawa powerplay came to life with four goals on Saturday night, including Beveridge's beautiful one-timer with just shy of two minutes remaining.

"It's about puck movement and getting the puck on net," said Coach Grandmaitre of the unit's improved play. "We didn't do enough of that first semester, so it was good for us to really get it going on the powerplay."

The Gee-Gees will now have five days off before entertaining the Lakehead Thunderwolves (Fri. 7:30, Sat. 7:00) and Laurentian Voyageurs (Sun., 2:00) in a gruelling "3-in-3" homestand next weekend.

Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees

Brock sweeps Lakehead series with 4-2 victory

THUNDER BAY, ON - The Brock University men's hockey team swept their northern trip against the Lakehead Thunderwolves finishing with a 4-2 victory Saturday night at the Fort Williams Gardens.

Lakehead opened the scoring just a minute into the opening period as Linden Springer beat Brock starter Clint Windsor (Burlington, ON) for his second goal of the season. The Thunderwolves held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

The Badgers tied the game 1-1, 4:35 into the second period as Josh Timpano (Orillia, ON) and Matt MacLeod (Niagara Falls, ON) setup Sammy Banga (Windsor, ON) for his eighth goal of the season.

With 13 second remaining in the second period, Banga would give the Badgers a 2-1 lead beating Lakehead goaltender Justin McDonald for his second goal of the night and ninth of the campaign. Andrew Radjenovic (Hamilton, ON) added the assist.

Brock's would take a 3-1 lead 1:51 into the third period as MacLeod and Evan Morden (Swan River, MB) setup Timpano for his fourth goal of the season.

Late in the third, with the extra-attacker, Lakehead's Zach Whitlock would cut the Badgers lead to one with 41 seconds left in regulation.

Brock's Brody Silk (Iroquois Falls, ON) would add an empty netter with 10 seconds left in regulation for the 4-2 victory. 

In goal, Windsor registered 31 saves for the victory while McDonald finished with 30 saves in the loss.

The Badgers will have to key OUA West road games next week as they take on the Ryerson Rams (Jan. 12) and Western Mustangs (Jan. 14).

Source: Brock Badgers

Warriors topple Lakers for first win of new year

Coming off a game in which they dominated in every area but they scoreboard, the Waterloo Warriors were finally rewarded with two hard-earned road points against the Nipissing Lakers.
 
Waterloo got first-period goals from Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge) and Mitch Elliot (Prince George), as the Warriors surged to a 3-1 victory over the Lakers on Saturday night in North Bay. 

Michael Siddall (St. Mary's) added a goal for the Warriors, while Mike Moffat (Waterloo) had two assists on a pair of gorgeous parsing plays in the game's opening twenty minutes. Mike Morrison (Hamilton) made 27 saves for the victory, as the Warriors improved their record to 6-9-3 - climbing into a playoff position in the process. 

Danny Desrochers scored the lone goal for Nipissing, who falls to 6-12-1 on the season. Domenic Graham made 37 saves to hold his team in it, but the Lakers were unable to find much offense.

The Warriors used a relentless forecheck to put pressure on Nipissing right out of the gate, and they were rewarded when Zac Coulter (Owen Sound) and Moffat teamed up to feed Sonnenburg streaking through the slot. The captain made not mistake, putting Waterloo up 1-0 early in the first. 

After Desrochers spun and fired home the equalizer just moments later, the Warriors once again took advantage of a pretty passing play to regain their lead. This time, Moffat carried the puck throughout the Lakers zone before sending a bullet feed in front to Elliot, and the big power forward slammed home a one-timer to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes. 

The game remained 2-1 through the second period and most of the third, as the Warriors continued to pour on the pressure. Not only did the Lakers fail to get Graham out for the extra attacker late in the game, but Siddall fired home a rebound in the final minute of play to make the final score 3-1 for the Warriors. 

Waterloo will now return home for their first home games of 2017, when they host a pair of OUA East division foes from Quebec. First, the Warriors will host the Concordia Stingers on Friday, January 13 at 7pm, before welcoming the UQTR Patriotes on Saturday, January 14 at 4pm.

Source: Waterloo Warriors

Redmen disarm Lancers, earn back-to-back road shutouts for first time since 2006

WINDSOR, Ont. – Goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard posted a 32-save shutout and assisted on a goal as No.6-ranked McGill skated to a 5-0 victory over the Windsor Lancers in OUA men's hockey at Windsor Arena, Saturday.
 
Combined with Friday's 4-0 whitewash over Windsor, it marked McGill's first back-to-back shutouts since 2013 and their first consecutive goose-eggs on the road since 2006.The Redmen improved to 10-8 in 18 lifetime meetings with Windsor since they first met in 1985.
 
The Redmen were 2-for-8 on the power-play and snuffed out all seven shorthanded situations.
 
"It was our first weekend back after a long break and I felt like it was a real turning point," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes. "We had input from the whole group. Both goalies played and posted shutouts. We played seven defencemen and 13 forwards and they all had a good performance. That speaks to our depth. Everybody was on board and contributed."
 
McGill led 3-0 after the opening period and added another pair in the final stanza.
 
Rookie Samuel Tremblay of St. Hubert, Que., paced the offence with a pair of markers to make the score 2-0 mid-way through the first and 5-0 in the last minute of play. His final goal was an empty-netter tap in after Gervais-Chouinard hit the goal-post on a high, arcing attempt to score from his own goal crease.
 
Freshman Alexandre Sills of Amos, Que., was credited with the game-winner when his third of the season, scored at 5:07 of the opening period, held up.  Rounding out the scoring was defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti of Maple, Ont., to make it 3-0 on the power-play and veteran Rock Regimbald, a native of Gatineau, Que., who added a PP marker to make the score 4-0 with less than seven minutes remaining in the game.
 
The undefeated weekend moved McGill into sole possession of first-place in the 10-team OUA East with a 14-3-2 record, one point ahead of Queen's (14-4-1) and two ahead of Concordia (14-5-0). The Redmen will host Queen's in a critical match-up on Friday the 13^th at 7 p.m. in the much-anticipated 15^th annual Management Winter Carnival Game, which is expected to be a capacity crowd.  The Gaels surprised McGill in their only other meeting, a 4-0 shutout on Nov. 26 in Kingston, which snapped a 31-game losing streak to the Redmen.
 
McGill has won all 14 previous Carnival games. Advance tickets can be purchased online or at the McGill Sports Shop, inside the Currie Gym at 475 Pine Avenue West.
 
Windsor, which dropped to fourth place and 10-9-2 in the OUA West, will host York (12-5-2) on Jan. 14.

Source: McGill Redmen

Cook rallies Golden Hawks to win ovr Laurentian

SUDBURY, Ont. (January 7 2016) - Led by second year forward Will Cook, the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's hockey team scored five goals in the third period to win 6-3 over the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday night at Countryside Arena. 

Right off the opening whistle, the Voyageurs maintained puck control well enough to grab an early 2-0 lead off the sticks of Jacob Smith (Sudbury, Ont.) and Brent Pedersen (Arthur, Ont.). Laurentian outshot the Hawks 14-8 during the period as they appeared to be in control of the contest early on.

Moving into the second period, Laurier came out with fresh energy and Christian Mroczkowski of Kitchener, Ont., was able to find the back of the Voyageurs net and close Laurentian's lead by one. However, Laurier's celebration was sort lived, as the home team's Nicolas Dionne (Amos, Que.) secured a 3-1 lead by the end of the period. 

It was the third period that took a turn in the right direction for the Hawks.

The purple and gold came out flying, only to wow the audience with an incredible five goals throughout the period. Peppering shot after shot on Laurentian's netminder Joel Vienneau (Hearst, Ont.), Laurier's Will Cook (Port Stanley, Ont.) found the back of the net twice while Danny Hanlon (Waterloo, Ont.), Kyle Morrison (Mississauga, Ont.) and Cole Porter (Sherwood Park, Alta.) all earned a goal of their own.

It was clear that Laurier's offensive burst took control of the ice, as they out-shot the Voyageurs 12-6 in the final frame.

Golden Hawks goalie Vinny Merante of Niagara Falls, N.Y., stood strong in net yet again for the Hawks, by making 30 saves on 33 shots that came his way.

Vienneau took the loss, allowing four goals on 25 shots.

The victory caps a 1-1 weekend for the purple and gold as they now sit at 9-7-4 on the season. Saturday's win puts the Hawks in a tie for third place in the OUA West, with 22 points to their name. 

Next weekend, the Hawks will come back home to play UQTR on Friday, January 13th and Concordia on Saturday, January 14th. Both games are set for 7:30 p.m. and will be held at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex.

Source: Laurier Golden Hawks

Stingers hand Rams second straight loss

MONTREAL - The Ryerson Rams men's hockey team suffered their second straight loss in 2017 as the Concordia Stingers scored six goals in the final two periods for a 6-1 victory Saturday night. 

BOXSCORE

Stingers' Philippe Cadorette made 30 saves in the romping to pick up his 11th win of the season.  Brodie Barrick of the Rams made his first OUA start in the loosing effort and put up a good fight against one of the OUA's best offensively gifted teams to finish with 22 saves.

After a scoreless first period, the Stingers exploded for four goals in the second sparked by a pair of tallies courtesy of Scott Oke.  Oke got the party started mid-way through the second with his seventh of the year.  Anthony Beauregard then found twine less than a minute later to shock the Rams for a 2-0 lead.  Oke then beat Barrick five-minutes later for his second on the night and the always-dangerous Anthony De Luca then wrapped up the Stingers' frenzy of a period with his 16^th goal of the year. 

Rams defender Alex Basso got the Rams on the board late in the second frame in hopes of a momentum swing in time for the final 20 minutes.  The Stingers had none of it, however, as Charles-Eric Legare made things 5-1 seven minutes into the third.  OUA's best, Olivier Hinse, then added to his league lead in goals with a late wrist shot for his 17^th on the season as the Stingers had all hands on deck to defeat the Rams 6-1 at the Ed Meager Arena Saturday night in Montreal, Quebec.