January 16, 2014
MEN'S HOCKEY ROUNDUP: Three third period goals lift Brock over York
Wednesday, January 15
Ryerson 2 @ Western 3
LONDON, Ont. – Zach Harnden scored the game-winner late in the third period and Josh Unice's brilliant play helped the Mustangs shut down the OUA's number-one ranked power play en route to 3-2 victory over the Ryerson Rams on Wednesday night at Thompson Arena.
Prior to the game a moment of silence was held for Major W. J. "Danny" McLeod, the founder of the University Cup who passed away Tuesday at the age of 92. A legend in Canadian university sport, McLeod simultaneously coached the Kingston Frontenacs, the RMC Paladins, and the Kingston Aces at one point and—after his retirement from RMC— proceeded to join the NHL as supervisor of officials where he was responsible for training all officials for the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and USSR.
Coming into Wednesday night's game, which saw the visitors go 0-for-5 with the man advantage, Ryerson had scored on the power play in four of their last five games and sat first in the OUA with an overall success rate of 27.5%. After the game, assistant coach Cam O'Donnell could only speculate as to why the Mustangs were able to shut down such a potent power play.
"From a tactical perspective we've been able to create a little more down-ice pressure, trying to keep teams out of our zone as much as we can," said O'Donnell. "I think that was probably the key tonight as we were pretty successful disrupting their breakout and it translates into killing off 30 or 40 seconds sometimes which—if you can do that – it minimizes the amount of time in your zone."
"That's what you have to do against power plays that are very effective," he added.
At the start of the game the ice seemed tilted in the Rams' favour, with Ryerson controlling play for the better half of the first ten minutes. Although the Mustangs seemed to find their feet at about the mid-point of the frame, the Rams still managed to reap a reward for the hard work, cashing in for their first goal of the game with 6:14 on the clock.
The Rams' first goal came off the stick of their second-leading scorer, Dominic Alberga, who ripped a shot from the point over Unice's right shoulder. Scoring is nothing new for the rookie Ryerson forward, who currently sits second in OUA scoring with 35 points behind only his teammate Jamie Wise.
Four minutes later, the Mustangs would get a goal of their own, capitalizing on a high sticking penalty to Ryerson's Michael Fine and tying the game at a goal a-piece. The tally came from rookie forward Stefan Salituro, who kept the puck on a 2-on-1 and slipped it short side on Rams' backstop Troy Passingham.
The Mustangs started the second period down a man, thanks to a high sticking double minor assessed to Kyle De Coste with time ticking down in the first. Despite killing off the penalty, Western was unable to gain much momentum in the minutes that followed, once again spending a majority of the first half trapped inside their own zone.
At the midpoint of the period, a drop pass from Adam McKee to Daniel Erlich almost got the Mustangs on the board with Erlich using his unique patience to get Passingham on his back before just missing the gaping cage. Eight minutes later, though, Erlich would make up for his miss, helping Western get on the board with a shot that careened off Passingham before hitting Reese's shoulder and finding its way into the net.
"Erlich has many ways of getting the team going," O'Donnell said of the sophomore forward after the game. "He's an exciting guy to watch play—he's a super skilled kid and he's a really great kid to have on the team."
Reese's goal marked the second power play goal of the game for the Mustangs. For a team that came out looking to stymie the league's number one unit, Western didn't do so bad themselves.
"I'm always confident when our power play guys step on the ice," O'Donnell said after the game. "Power plays are a funny thing, they wax and wane a little bit—you can get a lot of really good chances and not score goals and some nights you do everything wrong and you score a couple."
After stopping an impressive 29 of 30 shots through the first two periods, Unice was forced to be even stronger in the third, turning away a number of quality Ryerson chances including a point shot through traffic midway through the frame. In total, Unice stopped 14 shots in the period to keep his team in the game, bringing his total saves for the game up to 43.
"Josh is a real competitive guy," said O'Donnell. "He competes really hard– he doesn't like to lose and that's a big part of our program, why we win games. It's because we have guys like that."
But despite his strong play, the Rams would get to the veteran netminder with just under five minutes left in the third with Alberga scoring his second of the game at 4:15, once again with the help of teammate Jamie Wise. The Mustangs were able to answer quickly though, with Harnden putting the Mustangs ahead for good with a tip in front only a minute later, sending the fans home happy and giving Western an important two points.
Next, the Mustangs will turn their attention to the Brock Badgers, who currently sit eighth in the West Division with a record of 8-8-3. That game will take place on Friday at the Seymour-Hannah Centre in St. Catharines. Puck drop is set for 7:15 p.m.
Source: Western Sports Info
Thursday, January 16
Brock 3 @ York 2
A late third-period comeback by the visiting Brock Badgers handed the York University Lions men's hockey team a 3-2 defeat in front of the home crowd at Canlan Ice Sports on Thursday night (Jan. 16).
The Badgers scored all three of their goals in a seven-minute span in the third period to erase what was a 2-0 lead for the Lions early in the period. With the defeat, the Lions drop to 9-9-1 on the year and sit in eighth place in the OUA West standings, two points behind the seventh-place Badgers.
The first period would be defined by stellar goalie play, as both York's Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) and Brock's Adrian Volpe (Burlington, Ont.) were on point. With the support in net, the teams engaged in aggressive play throughout. Perugini turned away 16 shots in the frame, and also received a little help from his post, as a Johnson Andrews (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.) wrister would find metal, holding the score at 0-0 throughout the first.
Approaching the buzzer, the Lions would find themselves in penalty trouble late as a Jesse Messier (Keswick, Ont.) double minor for high sticking gave the Badgers the advantage to both end the first, and start the second. But Perugini was spectacular between the pipes, helping York kill the extended penalty as it remained scoreless into the second.
Motivated by their netminder, the Lions shifted gears and Messier would end the goal drought shortly after, launching a cannon of a shot past Volpe to give the Lions a 1-0 lead 5:56 into the second period.
Riding the momentum, the Lions forced Volpe to make a desperation save just moments later, preventing a quick two-goal turnaround.
The Badgers experienced their own penalty woes late in the second, handing the Lions an extended 5-on-3 opportunity. But Volpe would regain his composure, returning to earlier form. York entered the dressing room for the final intermission with a one goal advantage.
Down a man in the third, Messier continued to generate offence for the Lions, finding Troy Barss (Barrie, Ont.) with a nice set-up on a 2-on-1 rush into the Badgers zone. Barss roofed his shot top shelf, glove side, for the dirty shorthanded goal, giving York a 2-0 lead.
Returning the favour, however, Brock managed its own shorthanded score minutes later, as Andrews extended Perugini with a cross crease pass to Matt Abercrombie (Sarnia, Ont.) for the goal, shortening the Lions advantage to a single goal.
The score breathed life into the Badgers and they began to play with rejuvenated spirit. The result was a second goal by Abercrombie just four minutes later that evened the score at 2-2.
Three minutes after that, the Badgers took the lead with their third unanswered goal of the period courtesy of Thomas Stajan (Mississauga, Ont.), Brock's second shorthanded goal of the contest that gave them their first lead.
Scrambling late for an equalizer, York barraged Volpe with a series of shots in a thrilling sprint to the finish. Volpe held strong, and the Lions would ultimately fall victim to the late surge.
The Lions have a quick turnaround as they will travel to Guelph, Ont., on Friday (Jan. 17) to take on the Guelph Gryphons at 7:30pm. York will retake home ice at Canlan Ice Sports on Saturday (Jan. 25) when the Guelph Gryphons come to visit for a 7pm game.
Source: York Sports Info
Guelph 3 @ Laurier 4 (SO)
WATERLOO, Ont. - The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's hockey team hosted the Guelph Gryphons in front of a crowd of over 500 fans for Laurier's annual Winter Carnival game as they looked to build off a big win against the Western Mustangs. The Hawks trailed after the first period but clawed their way back before winning in dramatic fashion, 4-3 in a shootout.
Brent Vandenberg of Burlington, Ont., led the comeback for the Hawks, earning an assist and the tying goal. Rookie goaltender Vinny Merante of Niagara Falls, N.Y., was another key piece in the Hawks victory, turning aside 34 shots in a solid performance.
Despite being heavily out shot in the first period, the Hawks managed to keep the game within one until Vandenberg tied it up mid-way through the third period to send the game to overtime.
Out shooting the Gryphons 5-2 in overtime, the Hawks were unable to capitalize, forcing the game to shootout where they would eventually complete the comeback. Derek Schoenmakers of Kitchener, Ont., scored the winning goal in the shootout for the purple and gold to give the team their seventh win of the season.
Guelph goaltender Andrew Loverock of Elmvale, Ont., was solid for the Gryphons turning aside 30 shots in a losing effort.
The Hawks (7-10-1) will travel to Windsor on Friday night to take on the Lancers (11-8-0) as they look to extend their winning streak to three games. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at South Windsor Arena.
Source: Laurier Sports Info
RMC 3 @ UOIT 4 (SO)
OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men’s hockey team snapped a six-game losing streak on Thursday night with a 4-3 shootout victory over the RMC Paladins at the Campus Ice Centre.
Luke VanMoerkerke (Tillsonburg, Ont.) and Mitch Bennett (Fenelon Falls, Ont.) scored on both of UOIT’s shootout attempts while goaltender Colin Dzijacky (Thunder Bay, Ont.) shut the door on RMC to give the Ridgebacks their sixth win of the season.
Early in the game, it looked as if UOIT would cruise to the victory but RMC fought back and erased a three-goal deficit to force the game into overtime.
VanMoerkerke and Bennett got the Ridgebacks off to a great start as they scored the opening two goals of the game. Bennett leads the Ridgebacks in scoring with nine goals, which ranks fourth among OUA freshmen.
Nearing the end of the period, Cameron Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) would score his first goal of the season, redirecting in a shot from the point on the power play to give UOIT a 3-0 lead.
The teams would pull a complete 180 in the second period as RMC responded with three goals of their own. The Paladins’ run was highlighted by a shorthanded breakaway goal by Kyle Phillips, which tied the game at three goals apiece.
After combining for six goals over the first forty minutes, the teams went scoreless over the next 25 as the shootout was necessary to break the tie.
Dzijacky stopped 31 of 34 RMC shots as he earned his second shootout victory of his freshman campaign. OUA athlete of the week Evan Deviller made 39 saves for RMC in the loss. In two games against the Ridgebacks in the past two weeks, Deviller has made 89 saves on 94 shots.
With the win, UOIT (6-11-3) jumps into a tie with Concordia (6-8-3) for sixth place in the OUA eastern conference standings, but the Stingers have three games in hand. RMC and UOIT split the season series with one win apiece.
Prior to the game, the teams paid tribute to Major Danny McLeod who died at the age of 92. Major McLeod was a decorated veteran from World War II and after the war went on to become the first director of athletics at Royal Military College. He was also a driving force behind the creation of CIAU (now CIS).
The Ridgebacks will be back on home ice on Saturday night when they welcome UQTR (14-4-0) to the Campus Ice Centre. Game-time is 7:30 p.m.
Source: UOIT Media Release
Ryerson 2 @ Western 3
LONDON, Ont. – Zach Harnden scored the game-winner late in the third period and Josh Unice's brilliant play helped the Mustangs shut down the OUA's number-one ranked power play en route to 3-2 victory over the Ryerson Rams on Wednesday night at Thompson Arena.
Prior to the game a moment of silence was held for Major W. J. "Danny" McLeod, the founder of the University Cup who passed away Tuesday at the age of 92. A legend in Canadian university sport, McLeod simultaneously coached the Kingston Frontenacs, the RMC Paladins, and the Kingston Aces at one point and—after his retirement from RMC— proceeded to join the NHL as supervisor of officials where he was responsible for training all officials for the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and USSR.
Coming into Wednesday night's game, which saw the visitors go 0-for-5 with the man advantage, Ryerson had scored on the power play in four of their last five games and sat first in the OUA with an overall success rate of 27.5%. After the game, assistant coach Cam O'Donnell could only speculate as to why the Mustangs were able to shut down such a potent power play.
"From a tactical perspective we've been able to create a little more down-ice pressure, trying to keep teams out of our zone as much as we can," said O'Donnell. "I think that was probably the key tonight as we were pretty successful disrupting their breakout and it translates into killing off 30 or 40 seconds sometimes which—if you can do that – it minimizes the amount of time in your zone."
"That's what you have to do against power plays that are very effective," he added.
At the start of the game the ice seemed tilted in the Rams' favour, with Ryerson controlling play for the better half of the first ten minutes. Although the Mustangs seemed to find their feet at about the mid-point of the frame, the Rams still managed to reap a reward for the hard work, cashing in for their first goal of the game with 6:14 on the clock.
The Rams' first goal came off the stick of their second-leading scorer, Dominic Alberga, who ripped a shot from the point over Unice's right shoulder. Scoring is nothing new for the rookie Ryerson forward, who currently sits second in OUA scoring with 35 points behind only his teammate Jamie Wise.
Four minutes later, the Mustangs would get a goal of their own, capitalizing on a high sticking penalty to Ryerson's Michael Fine and tying the game at a goal a-piece. The tally came from rookie forward Stefan Salituro, who kept the puck on a 2-on-1 and slipped it short side on Rams' backstop Troy Passingham.
The Mustangs started the second period down a man, thanks to a high sticking double minor assessed to Kyle De Coste with time ticking down in the first. Despite killing off the penalty, Western was unable to gain much momentum in the minutes that followed, once again spending a majority of the first half trapped inside their own zone.
At the midpoint of the period, a drop pass from Adam McKee to Daniel Erlich almost got the Mustangs on the board with Erlich using his unique patience to get Passingham on his back before just missing the gaping cage. Eight minutes later, though, Erlich would make up for his miss, helping Western get on the board with a shot that careened off Passingham before hitting Reese's shoulder and finding its way into the net.
"Erlich has many ways of getting the team going," O'Donnell said of the sophomore forward after the game. "He's an exciting guy to watch play—he's a super skilled kid and he's a really great kid to have on the team."
Reese's goal marked the second power play goal of the game for the Mustangs. For a team that came out looking to stymie the league's number one unit, Western didn't do so bad themselves.
"I'm always confident when our power play guys step on the ice," O'Donnell said after the game. "Power plays are a funny thing, they wax and wane a little bit—you can get a lot of really good chances and not score goals and some nights you do everything wrong and you score a couple."
After stopping an impressive 29 of 30 shots through the first two periods, Unice was forced to be even stronger in the third, turning away a number of quality Ryerson chances including a point shot through traffic midway through the frame. In total, Unice stopped 14 shots in the period to keep his team in the game, bringing his total saves for the game up to 43.
"Josh is a real competitive guy," said O'Donnell. "He competes really hard– he doesn't like to lose and that's a big part of our program, why we win games. It's because we have guys like that."
But despite his strong play, the Rams would get to the veteran netminder with just under five minutes left in the third with Alberga scoring his second of the game at 4:15, once again with the help of teammate Jamie Wise. The Mustangs were able to answer quickly though, with Harnden putting the Mustangs ahead for good with a tip in front only a minute later, sending the fans home happy and giving Western an important two points.
Next, the Mustangs will turn their attention to the Brock Badgers, who currently sit eighth in the West Division with a record of 8-8-3. That game will take place on Friday at the Seymour-Hannah Centre in St. Catharines. Puck drop is set for 7:15 p.m.
Source: Western Sports Info
Thursday, January 16
Brock 3 @ York 2
A late third-period comeback by the visiting Brock Badgers handed the York University Lions men's hockey team a 3-2 defeat in front of the home crowd at Canlan Ice Sports on Thursday night (Jan. 16).
The Badgers scored all three of their goals in a seven-minute span in the third period to erase what was a 2-0 lead for the Lions early in the period. With the defeat, the Lions drop to 9-9-1 on the year and sit in eighth place in the OUA West standings, two points behind the seventh-place Badgers.
The first period would be defined by stellar goalie play, as both York's Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) and Brock's Adrian Volpe (Burlington, Ont.) were on point. With the support in net, the teams engaged in aggressive play throughout. Perugini turned away 16 shots in the frame, and also received a little help from his post, as a Johnson Andrews (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.) wrister would find metal, holding the score at 0-0 throughout the first.
Approaching the buzzer, the Lions would find themselves in penalty trouble late as a Jesse Messier (Keswick, Ont.) double minor for high sticking gave the Badgers the advantage to both end the first, and start the second. But Perugini was spectacular between the pipes, helping York kill the extended penalty as it remained scoreless into the second.
Motivated by their netminder, the Lions shifted gears and Messier would end the goal drought shortly after, launching a cannon of a shot past Volpe to give the Lions a 1-0 lead 5:56 into the second period.
Riding the momentum, the Lions forced Volpe to make a desperation save just moments later, preventing a quick two-goal turnaround.
The Badgers experienced their own penalty woes late in the second, handing the Lions an extended 5-on-3 opportunity. But Volpe would regain his composure, returning to earlier form. York entered the dressing room for the final intermission with a one goal advantage.
Down a man in the third, Messier continued to generate offence for the Lions, finding Troy Barss (Barrie, Ont.) with a nice set-up on a 2-on-1 rush into the Badgers zone. Barss roofed his shot top shelf, glove side, for the dirty shorthanded goal, giving York a 2-0 lead.
Returning the favour, however, Brock managed its own shorthanded score minutes later, as Andrews extended Perugini with a cross crease pass to Matt Abercrombie (Sarnia, Ont.) for the goal, shortening the Lions advantage to a single goal.
The score breathed life into the Badgers and they began to play with rejuvenated spirit. The result was a second goal by Abercrombie just four minutes later that evened the score at 2-2.
Three minutes after that, the Badgers took the lead with their third unanswered goal of the period courtesy of Thomas Stajan (Mississauga, Ont.), Brock's second shorthanded goal of the contest that gave them their first lead.
Scrambling late for an equalizer, York barraged Volpe with a series of shots in a thrilling sprint to the finish. Volpe held strong, and the Lions would ultimately fall victim to the late surge.
The Lions have a quick turnaround as they will travel to Guelph, Ont., on Friday (Jan. 17) to take on the Guelph Gryphons at 7:30pm. York will retake home ice at Canlan Ice Sports on Saturday (Jan. 25) when the Guelph Gryphons come to visit for a 7pm game.
Source: York Sports Info
Guelph 3 @ Laurier 4 (SO)
WATERLOO, Ont. - The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's hockey team hosted the Guelph Gryphons in front of a crowd of over 500 fans for Laurier's annual Winter Carnival game as they looked to build off a big win against the Western Mustangs. The Hawks trailed after the first period but clawed their way back before winning in dramatic fashion, 4-3 in a shootout.
Brent Vandenberg of Burlington, Ont., led the comeback for the Hawks, earning an assist and the tying goal. Rookie goaltender Vinny Merante of Niagara Falls, N.Y., was another key piece in the Hawks victory, turning aside 34 shots in a solid performance.
Despite being heavily out shot in the first period, the Hawks managed to keep the game within one until Vandenberg tied it up mid-way through the third period to send the game to overtime.
Out shooting the Gryphons 5-2 in overtime, the Hawks were unable to capitalize, forcing the game to shootout where they would eventually complete the comeback. Derek Schoenmakers of Kitchener, Ont., scored the winning goal in the shootout for the purple and gold to give the team their seventh win of the season.
Guelph goaltender Andrew Loverock of Elmvale, Ont., was solid for the Gryphons turning aside 30 shots in a losing effort.
The Hawks (7-10-1) will travel to Windsor on Friday night to take on the Lancers (11-8-0) as they look to extend their winning streak to three games. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at South Windsor Arena.
Source: Laurier Sports Info
RMC 3 @ UOIT 4 (SO)
OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men’s hockey team snapped a six-game losing streak on Thursday night with a 4-3 shootout victory over the RMC Paladins at the Campus Ice Centre.
Luke VanMoerkerke (Tillsonburg, Ont.) and Mitch Bennett (Fenelon Falls, Ont.) scored on both of UOIT’s shootout attempts while goaltender Colin Dzijacky (Thunder Bay, Ont.) shut the door on RMC to give the Ridgebacks their sixth win of the season.
Early in the game, it looked as if UOIT would cruise to the victory but RMC fought back and erased a three-goal deficit to force the game into overtime.
VanMoerkerke and Bennett got the Ridgebacks off to a great start as they scored the opening two goals of the game. Bennett leads the Ridgebacks in scoring with nine goals, which ranks fourth among OUA freshmen.
Nearing the end of the period, Cameron Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) would score his first goal of the season, redirecting in a shot from the point on the power play to give UOIT a 3-0 lead.
The teams would pull a complete 180 in the second period as RMC responded with three goals of their own. The Paladins’ run was highlighted by a shorthanded breakaway goal by Kyle Phillips, which tied the game at three goals apiece.
After combining for six goals over the first forty minutes, the teams went scoreless over the next 25 as the shootout was necessary to break the tie.
Dzijacky stopped 31 of 34 RMC shots as he earned his second shootout victory of his freshman campaign. OUA athlete of the week Evan Deviller made 39 saves for RMC in the loss. In two games against the Ridgebacks in the past two weeks, Deviller has made 89 saves on 94 shots.
With the win, UOIT (6-11-3) jumps into a tie with Concordia (6-8-3) for sixth place in the OUA eastern conference standings, but the Stingers have three games in hand. RMC and UOIT split the season series with one win apiece.
Prior to the game, the teams paid tribute to Major Danny McLeod who died at the age of 92. Major McLeod was a decorated veteran from World War II and after the war went on to become the first director of athletics at Royal Military College. He was also a driving force behind the creation of CIAU (now CIS).
The Ridgebacks will be back on home ice on Saturday night when they welcome UQTR (14-4-0) to the Campus Ice Centre. Game-time is 7:30 p.m.
Source: UOIT Media Release
