January 27, 2012

FRIDAY HOCKEY ROUNDUP: Lancers take dramatic shootout over No. 2 Western

Men’s Hockey

Guelph Gryphons @ York Lions

Rookie winger Evan Gravenor (Winnipeg) scored a pair of goals, including the game winner 3:37 into overtime, to lead the York University Lions men's hockey team to a hard-fought, 2-1 win over the Guelph Gryphons on Thursday night (Jan. 26) at Canlan Ice Sports in the first of back-to-back games against the Gryphons this weekend.

Gravenor's two-point night puts him third in team scoring this season with 19 points in 24 games.

Andrew Perugini (King City, Ont.) stopped all but one of the 29 shots he faced to record his fourth-straight win. He is now 8-3 since taking over as starter for the Lions. His counterpart, Cody St. Jacques (Iroquois Falls, Ont.), made 29 saves in the loss.

With the win, the Lions improve to 12-8-4 on the season and remain fourth in the OUA West with 28 points, two points behind the third-place Waterloo Warriors (13-7-4).

The Lions looked razor sharp to start the first. With Matt Lyall (Richmond Hill, Ont.) in the box for slashing, the Lions would go to work on an early power play, and work they did, generating seven or eight great scoring chances that, unfortunately, resulted in nothing more than one bruised post, courtesy of a Matt Thomson (Kitchener, Ont.) point shot.

Those missed opportunities would come back to haunt the Lions immediately. No more than a few seconds after his penalty had expired, Lyall would get the puck on his stick, break into the Lions' zone all alone with speed and beat Perugini top shelf on the backhand to open the scoring.

The Lions, however, would regroup and tie things up late in the period on a beautiful set-up play from Jesse Messier (Keswick, Ont.). After forcing his way deep into Gryphons' territory and drawing both defenders his way, Messier would send a clever, little spin pass towards the left post and a wide-open Gravenor, who had to stop and reset before firing a quick forehand up and over a sprawling St. Jacques.

Things would quieten down considerably in the second period. Both teams would trade scoring chances, with the Gryphons putting up 10 shots in the frame compared to the Lions' eight, but neither could come up with a go-ahead goal.

The Gryphons would get a golden opportunity to score late in the period when Marco Franchini (Woodbridge, Ont.) found himself all alone in the Lions' zone, facing a down-and-out Perugini. Unfortunately for Franchini, he would hesitate too long on the play, allowing Perugini to sit up and make an incredible save from his backside that kept things deadlocked at ones.

The third period would play out much like the second, but this time, it was the Lions who found themselves with a chance to go ahead late. With Gryphons defenceman Barrett Brook (Leduc, Alb.) in the box for hooking, Thomson would work his way in from the left point on the power play, weaving around a couple of Gryphons before firing a low wrist shot on goal, but St. Jacques was able to get a peek at the shot through traffic and turn it aside with his right pad, forcing the game into overtime.

In the extra frame, the Lions would finally break the deadlock when Tyler McGee (Timmins, Ont.), instead of trying to rush a shot through a bunch of legs in front of the Gryphons' goal, waited for traffic to clear before firing a shot on goal that bounced off St. Jacques and onto the stick of a ready and waiting Gravenor, who shovelled home the rebound with a defender on his back.

The Lions will look to extend their winning streak to three games when they travel to Guelph on Saturday (Jan. 28) to finish their home-and-home set against the Gryphons. Puck drops at 7:30 pm.

Source: Lions Athletics

Nipissing Lakers @ Ryerson Rams

TORONTO — The Nipissing Lakers put an exclamation point on an important road victory with a four-goal barrage in a span of less than four minutes during the second period in a 7-0 win over the Ryerson Rams, Thursday night.

The Lakers (13-6-4) earned their third straight win to move three points clear of the Carleton Ravens (12-8-3) in the race for third place in the OUA East, with five games remaining in the schedule.

Nipissing goalie Daniel Spence stopped all 22 shots for his first career OUA shutout for the Lakers, who outshot the Rams 38-22.

“The guys played pretty well,” said Lakers head coach Mike McParland. “We worked hard this week in practice and to hold them to 22 shots, that shows the guys competed hard all night.

“This gives us a bit of a cushion, but we still have to take care of business Saturday against RMC.”

Paul Cianfrini opened the scoring 2:34 into the game and fellow defenceman Jason Gray made it 2-0 midway through the opening period.

The Lakers blew things open with a five-goal second period. Kevin Flather scored his first OUA goal 4:44 into the period before Doug Clarkson, Brodie Beard, Dorian Peca and Andrew Marcoux each scored in a four-minute span to put the game away.

Cianfrini and Conor O’Donnell each added two assists.

The Lakers return home Saturday to host the RMC Paladins (3-19-1) on Armed Forces Appreciation Night. Fans are encouraged to wear red.

Source: Lakers Athletics

Western Mustangs @ Windsor Lancers

The Lancer men's hockey team got back in the win column after a dramatic 2-1 shootout win over the No. 2 ranked Western Mustangs on Thursday night at Windsor Arena.

Evan Stibbard scored the lone goal in the shootout, on the final shot of the round, to give the Lancers the much needed win. Lancer goaltender Parker Van Buskirk was solid in net making 26 saves in net for Windsor.

With the win, the Lancers are now 10-12-1 on the season and continue to sit in sixth place in the OUA West division.

The rookie line of D.J. Turner, Drew Palmer and Evan Stibbard opened up the scoring for the Lancers in the first period. With the man advantage, Turner accepted a pass from Palmer and Stibbard to give Windsor a 1-0 lead at 8:22 of the opening frame.

The Mustangs tied the game at one at 8:47 of the second period with a goal from Steve Reese. Tyler Peters and Scott Aaresson were credited with the assists.

The third period was a tight checking affair, that saw a lot of back and forth action and very few penalties. Goaltenders Van Buskirk and Western's Alain Valiquette made some keys saves in net to keep the score deadlocked at one, sending the game into extra time.

With the overtime period solving nothing, the game headed into a shootout. The first five shooters came up empty handed, setting the stage for Stibbard. The first year Kinesiology major charged in on Valiquette, slipping the puck under his left pad to lift the Lancers over the second ranked Mustangs.

The Lancers will head to Waterloo on Saturday to face the Golden Hawks at 3:00pm.

Source: Lancers Athletics

Women’s Hockey

Ryerson Rams @ Brock Badgers

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University women's hockey team (10-10-1 OUA) blanked the Ryerson Rams (1-19-1 OUA) by the score of 8-0 Thursday night at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.

Brock led 1-0 after the first period. In the second period, the Badgers offense came alive registering five goals over a seven minute span leading 6-0 after 40 minutes. They added two more in the third.

Brock had seven players with multiple point performances. Sophomores Leigh Vanderveen (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.) and Katie Howlett (Burlington, Ont.) led the way with two goals each. Vanderveen moved into a tie for 8th all-time in career goals (20).

Sophomore Jessica Fickel (Fort Erie, Ont.) added one goal and two assists, for her fourth three-point performance of the season. Fickel is now just two points shy of becoming the sixth player in school history to record 50 career points.

Senior Hailey Webb (Orillia, Ont.) contributed with one goal and one assist. junior Brianne Veale (Sault Ste Marie, Ont.) recorded a career high three assists, while senior Courtney Stevens (Ottawa, Ont.) and sophomore Megan Keane (Pefferlaw, Ont.) chipped in with two helpers each.

Adding single goals were senior Kristen Dewsbury (Oshawa, Ont.) and freshman Jaclyn Conacher (Burlington, Ont.).

In goal, freshman Chantal Bicket (Oshawa, Ont.) recorded 30 saves for the shutout victory.

The Badgers next action is Saturday, January 28th at 3:15 pm on "Senior Day" when they host the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.

Source: Badgers Athletics

Toronto Varsity Blues @ Guelph Gryphons

The Guelph Gryphons women’s hockey team took on the Toronto Varsity Blues tonight (Jan. 26th) in Guelph at the Gryphon Centre. The Gryphons struggled in the first two periods against the Varsity Blues but turned the game around in the third for a 3-1 win. Guelph goals came from Victoria Head (Kanata, ON), Kimberley Wong (Mississauga, ON) and Erin Small (Pickering, ON).

The Gryphons now move to a 16-4-1 record to put them at 31 total points, and are second only in the OUA to the Laurier Golden Hawks. The Varsity Blues drop to an 11-9-1 record.

In the first period both teams saw a lot of action around the net but couldn’t finalize a goal. Leila Chan Currie (Toronto, ON) nearly gave Toronto their first goal 9 minutes into the game when she shot towards an opening in the Gryphon net, but it stopped just short of the goal line. A minute later forward Callie Bazak (Peterborough, ON) stole a failed pass from the Gryphons and had a one-on-one with Gryphon goalie Stephanie Nehring (Oshawa, ON) but she shot high. The Gryphons gained control in the last few minutes of the first but couldn’t break through Toronto defence, and the period ended goalless.

The Gryphons picked up their game in the second with Tamara Bell (Guelph, ON) taking two consecutive shots on Nicole Kesteris (Aurora, ON) midway through. Unfortunately for the Gryphons a scrimmage outside of Guelph net led to Toronto’s first and only goal of the game, after an initial shot was fired just outside of Nehring’s grasp and Currie snuck it in.

The Toronto goal didn’t discourage the Gryphons and they came into the third period ready to play. With only 3:23 on the clock Head tied the game for Guelph after a great set up from Talia Paone (Ancaster, ON) and Jody Hodgins (Stayner, ON). The Gryphons finally took the lead when Wong took an amazing shot from just inside the blue line that caught the Blue’s goalie off guard. This unassisted goal at 14:29 in the second helped pick up Gryphon spirits and they maintained most of the possession for the rest of the game.

In the last minutes the Varsity Blue’s pulled their goalie, which gave Small the perfect advantage once she gained possession of the puck with only 30 seconds left on the board. She fired into an empty net before the Blues could catch her, confirming the Gryphon win.

The Gryphons next play January 28th at home in Guelph at the Gryphon Centre against the Ryerson Rams. The game begins at 2pm.

Source: Gryphons Athletics

OUA SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Men’s Hockey

January 26, 2012
Guelph, 1 @ York, 2 (OT)
Nipissing, 7 @ Ryerson, 0

Western, 1 @ Windsor, 2 (SO)

January 27, 2012

7:00 pm – Ottawa @ McGill
7:15 pm – Lakehead @ Brock
7:30 pm – Queen’s @ Ryerson

7:30 pm – RMC @ Toronto
7:30 pm – Laurier @ UOIT

January 28, 2012

3:00 pm – Windsor @ Laurier
7:00 pm – McGill @ Carleton
7:00 pm – RMC @ Nipissing

7:30 pm – York @ Guelph

7:30 pm – Queen’s @ Toronto
7:30 pm – Lakehead @ Western