AROUND OUA: Western nets a goal a period to down Brock 3-1 in season opener
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - Trent Ouellette scored the go-ahead goal seventeen minutes into the second period and Greg Dodds stopped 30 shots as the Mustangs spoiled the Brock Badgers' home opener with a 3-1 victory at the Seymour-Hannah Centre Friday night.
SCOREBOARD
Western nets a goal a period to down Brock 3-1 in season opener
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - Trent Ouellette scored the go-ahead goal seventeen minutes into the second period and Greg Dodds stopped 30 shots as the Mustangs spoiled the Brock Badgers' home opener with a 3-1 victory at the Seymour-Hannah Centre Friday night.
Western iced a total of seven rookie players in the game but it was their returning players who made the biggest dent on the score-sheet.
Four of the five assists registered on the night came from familiar faces while Ouellette, a sophomore, and veteran Matt Marantz accounted for two of the three goals. Dodds picked up the win with first-year Justin Tugwell serving as his back-up.
Marantz opened the scoring for the Mustangs in the first frame, tying the game at a goal apiece late in the first period after Mitch Nardi put Brock ahead with 7:30 on the clock. Rookie Sean Callaghan earned his first OUA point on the goal with the first and only assist.
Dodds was a big reason for the deadlock heading into the first intermission, stopping a game-high 13 shots in the opening frame. He got a little bit more support in the second period, when Brock managed just six shots, before facing eleven more in the third.
After putting up a game-high 14 shots in the first, Western added another 13 in the second to keep Brock goaltender Real Cormier busy. They were rewarded with a late goal from Ouellette, who got the puck from Alex Micallef at the side of the net and spun before firing it in.
Strong starts are nothing new for Ouellette as he netted a pair in Western's season opener last season against Guelph. He finished the year with three goals and eight assists through 27 games and is one of a number of possible break-out candidates for the Mustangs this year.
Andrew Goldberg was the only rookie to score on the night, beating Cormier just under five minutes into the third period to give Western some insurance. Defencemen Matt Herskovitz and Stephen Gaskin got the apples on the goal for their first points of the season.
Penalties were few and far between for the two teams. Western spent more time in the bin, giving the Badgers three power plays, although Brock had the most ill-advised penalty, as Greg Jambrosich took a deflating goaltender interference penalty late in the final frame.
When all was said in done, no Mustang finished with more than a single point on the night. It was a fitting start to the season for a team that enters the year without their top three scorers from last year and will be expected to spread their offence around in 2015-16.
Next up for Western is their home opener on Friday, October 16, against the Laurier Golden Hawks at Thompson Arena. The Golden Hawks will open their season tomorrow night against the York Lions after finishing second last in the OUA West Division last year.
Notes
Dodds win marked the third straight year that he's won his season debut… Western hasn't lost to Brock since February, 2013. Since the 2012-13 season, the Mustangs have gone 8-1 against the Badgers with a number of overtime thrillers.
Source: Western Mustangs
Abraham nets hat-trick in 7-1 drubbing of RMC
KINGSTON, Ont. (October 9, 2015) - The Men's hockey team is off to a hot start for the 2015-16 season, posting their first win of the year versus their Kingston rival RMC Paladins.
It was a 7pm puck drop at Constantine Arena in Kingston, as both teams played their first games of the OUA season. The Gaels come into this one with a solid 13-12-1 record last season, and finishing with a loss in the OUA Semifinals the last two years.
Queen's was ready to go from puck drop, scoring the first goal of the game and first of the season. Spencer Abraham (Campbellville, Ont.) snapped one past RMC goalie Matt Beimes just 1:38 into the opening frame. The Gaels wouldn't stop there though, as Patrick McGillis (Calgary, Alta.) doubled the early lead with a goal of his own, this one coming just over two minutes later. Both Gaels' goals went unassisted to start the season. RMC wouldn't let the visiting team take the crowd out of it that easily, as John Livingston fired one past starting goalie Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Gaels came out even quicker in the second period. Wasting no time once again, it was Abraham getting his second of the game. The assist on the goal went to the newly appointed Queen's captain Patrick Downe as he records his first point of the young season. As though two wasn't enough, Abraham decided it was time to add another, scoring his third goal of the game to complete the hat-trick. His third of the game comes just 23 minutes into the season, in 2014-15 Abraham finished the entire year with five goals. It may be safe to say he has a great chance of topping that this season. The Gaels continued to press and netted another one, this time by forward Darcy Greenaway (Wilton, Ont.), giving the team a big 5-1 lead heading into the final period.
Twelve minutes into the third Andrew Wiebe (Thunder Bay, Ont.) scored his first of the season to give the visitors a 6-1 lead in the game. Just 45 seconds later it was Eric Ming (Williamstown, Ont.) giving the Gaels a big 6 goal cushion. That was all she wrote for each team's season opener as Queen's topped RMC by a scored of 7-1.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Special teams proves costly for Varsity Blues in home debut
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team fell 10-5 to the UQTR Patriotes in their 2015-16 season and home opener on Friday night (Oct. 9) at Varsity Arena.
The visiting Patriotes, last year's OUA runner up, went 4-for-5 on the powerplay and added a shorthanded marker in the high-scoring affair. Toronto failed to convert on six powerplay attempts.
This one was action-packed from the get-go as third-year forward Connor Cleverley opened the scoring just 1:47 into the contest. Rookie forward Max Lindsay of Ancaster, Ont., then put the Blues up by two, notching his first goal in the Blue and White 6:33 into the first period.
UQTR came right back, with Felix Plouffe scoring back-to-back goals just 27 seconds apart to even things at 2-2 midway through the opening frame. Toronto followed suit, with newly-named assistant captain Charlie Connell and veteran forward Patrick Marsh finding the back of the net 17 seconds apart and just like that, Toronto was up 4-2.
The Patriotes answered the call, however, as Martin Lefebvre notched a powerplay marker and Carl-Antoine Delisle added a short-handed goal to create a deadlock, 4-4, at the first intermission.
First-year Blues forward Aidan Wallace of Scarborough, Ont., put the Blues up with a tricky shot at the short side of the net 5:08 into the second period. The Patriotes evened things up again less than two minutes later with a goal off the stick of Jeremy Beaudry. UQTR added another and led 6-5 heading into the final frame.
Despite their best efforts, Toronto was unable to find the back of the net again in the opening-night loss.
The Blues will look to bounce back tomorrow night as they host the Concordia Stingers at Varsity Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Stingers spoil Rams home opener
TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams welcomed the Concordia Stingers to the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Friday, to mark the first game of the season for both clubs. However, the Rams may have been too kind to the Stingers, who came away with a 5-2 victory.
After an aggressive but scoreless first period that only saw five shots apiece, the puck finally found its way to the back of the net, as Dany Potvin of the Concordia Stingers wacked home a loose puck in front to give the Stingers a 1-0 lead nearly half way into the second period. The Rams would counter quickly as Brandon Devlin (Brampton, Ont.) in his first game as a Ram scored two minutes later to tie the game at one.
With the quick rebuttal and the home crowd back in the game, the Rams looked to be in good shape to close out the rest of the second period. But this was not the case as the Stingers pulled away and never looked back. Phillippe Hudon took a pass from across the ice and one timed it past rookie Ryerson goaltender Taylor Dupuis (New Liskeard, Ont.). Two minutes later Jessyko Bernard did the same as he found himself wide open in the slot to beat Dupuis for the marker, giving the Stingers a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
Charles-Eric Legare would provide the dagger as he scored the third unanswered goal for the Stingers 10 minutes into the final frame. The Rams went 0-5 on the powerplay and had opportunities late after Concordia took three straight penalties to give the Rams a 5-on-3 advantage.
Devlin scored his second of two on the night late in the third, but with the goalie pulled, the Stingers Fredric Roy found the empty net to give Concordia a 5-2 victory over the Rams.
Dupuis was the story coming into the game, making his first CIS start ahead of last year's starter Troy Passingham (Mississauga, Ont.). Passingham played every second of every game for the Rams last season and found himself in an unusual location, on the Rams bench to start the season. But Passingham will not be staying there for long.
"Passingham will go tomorrow," said coach Ryerson Graham Wise. "I thought Dupuis really gave us a chance to get back in the game but were going to give Passignham the start tomorrow against UQTR and see what happens."
The Rams won't have too much time to dwell on the loss to Concordia as they welcome once again another tough opponent to the MAC as they face off against UQTR at 2:30pm on Saturday.
Source: Ryerson Rams
Ridgebacks' strong effort falls short
OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team showed a lot of heart in their 2015 season opener but were not rewarded with any points as McGill skated away with a 4-2 win over the Ridgebacks.
Liam Heelis proved to be the difference maker as he scored two third period goals including the game winner with just over five minutes to go to break the 2-2 deadlock. The Georgetown native ended the night with three points as he assisted on the Redmen's opening goal of the game.
UOIT would bounce back from a one-goal deficit on two occasions with goals in the second and third period. Mitch Bennett (Fenelon Falls, Ont.) scored the Ridgebacks first goal of the campaign on the power play with just one second left on the clock to end the second frame.
Freshman Mark Petaccio (Sicklerville, N.J.) would record his first career CIS goal midway through the third period, less than a minute after Heelis gave McGill a 2-1 lead. Petaccio slapped one past Jacob Gervais-Chouinard while streaking down the right wing. Ben Blasko (Kingston, Ont.) assisted on the play as he finished the night with two assists, his first two points in the CIS.
The Ridgebacks have several chances to tie the game up on a late power play, but Gervais-Chouinard made a number of key saves down the stretch to preserve the McGill victory.
Making his sophomore season debut in goal, Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) made 37 saves in the losing effort. Gervais-Chouinard stopped 32 of 34 UOIT shots on goal.
McGill is 8-1-0 against the Ridgebacks all-time, with their only loss coming in UOIT's 2014 home opener.
The Ridgebacks will look to rebound on the road this Saturday when they head to Kingston to take on the RMC Paladins. RMC is 1-1-0 to start the year.
Source: UOIT Ridgebacks
