AROUND OUA: Gaskin completes hat trick in OT to send Western past Concordia
LONDON, Ont. – Stephen Gaskin completed his first OUA hat trick with 10 seconds left in overtime to lift the Western Mustangs over the Concordia Stingers 6-5 at Thompson Arena Friday night.
SCOREBOARD
Gaskin completes hat trick in OT to send Western past Concordia
LONDON, Ont. – Stephen Gaskin completed his first OUA hat trick with 10 seconds left in overtime to lift the Western Mustangs over the Concordia Stingers 6-5 at Thompson Arena Friday night.
It was quite the finish for the veteran defenceman, who scored his second of the night with 56 seconds left in the third to send the game to extra time. He doesn't consider himself to be offence-oriented, but when you're third on the team in scoring you're doing something right.
"I haven't had a hat trick I think since I was in novice or something like that," said Gaskin post-game. "My game's more defensive but things were just clicking tonight."
Everything might have ended well for Gaskin, but for a moment early in the second period it seemed like he might not finish the game. Hobbling and clearly hurt after blocking a shot, he finished the penalty kill and was back to score his first of the night later in the frame. But it was still a scary moment for a team that's had some injury problems to start the year.
"It feels fine, it was more of a stinger than anything else," Gaskin said. "You know it's going to happen, there were a ton of other guys that took some stingers tonight too so just got to play through that."
When asked about the play, head coach Clarke Singer was a little less nonchalant.
"We can not afford to lose anybody else with how things have gone the first couple of months here," said Singer. "When he blocks a slap shot like that in the wrong spot you think it could be long term but he actually finished the shift and ended up not missing any time. He's one of our most valuable guys so it's important to have him in the lineup."
On a night when the attention was focused on him, however, Gaskin was quick to deflect praise to a long-time teammate who was in on all three of his goals.
"I've got to give a lot of credit to Shaun Furlong, who got an assist on I think every single one of my goals there," Gaskin said. "So he did a great job finding me on all three actually so I just had to put the puck in the net and luckily it went in."
Furlong finished the night with three primary assists to give him six points on the season. He found Gaskin in pretty much the same spot—the high slot—for all three of the goals to join Gaskin and Matt Marantz as the only players to register multi-point efforts for the Mustangs.
Marantz's performance, which saw him assist on captain David Corrente's opener and Gaskin's game-tying goal, was particularly special, considering that his parents were in attendance all the way from Calgary. He helped put on an excellent show for them in what turned out to be one of Western's most exciting games of the year—something that didn't surprise Singer or Gaskin.
"They're much improved over the last couple of years," Singer said when asked whether Concordia is better than their record. "They've got some of the most skill in the OUA, they play hard, they've got a lot of structure, and you know we saw a lot of that tonight. We were fortunate to come out with the win."
"They're a great team," Gaskin added. "That first line's got some of the best skilled forwards in the league. We knew that coming in and you know they showed it to us tonight as well. It was a good test for us and it's good we came out on top.
Meanwhile, Frederic Roy, Olivier Hinse, and Philippe Hudon each had two points for the Stingers, with Roy scoring twice on the five-on-three, Hudon scoring a go-ahead goal in the third to go with a first-period assist, and Hinse assisting on both of Roy's goals.
Gaskin's performance on offence helped earn backstop Greg Dodds his fifth straight win on the season. Dodds performed much better than the goal total suggests, making a number of key saves and expertly deflecting the puck out of play to give his teammates time to rest on a number of occasions. He finished with 25 saves on 30 shots and now possesses a .913 save percentage.
"I'm sure any time a goalie lets in that many goals he's probably not overly happy with his goals against average but they came at us hard in the second and he had a great second period," said head coach Singer. "If it wasn't for him there they could have gone into the third with the lead. He held the door shut for us there and then gave us a chance to come back in the third."
Dodds' counterpart, Miguel Sullivan, finished with 35 saves on 41 shots. It wasn't an easy test for either goalie, and many of the goals that did go in were well-executed and left the backstop with no chance.
Rookie Mark MacAuley scored his first of his OUA career to give Western a 2-0 lead just two minutes after Corrente opened the scoring in the first. MacAuley's tally came on a rush by defenceman Sean Callaghan, who capitalized on an offensive-zone turnover from Concordia by taking the puck down the ice and creating a rebound off a one-handed shot.
Alexandros Soumakis got the Stingers on the board exactly 20 seconds later, going left to right on a clean break to beat Dodds and slide the puck in. But 40 seconds later it would be Western to strike again, with Connor Chartier showing off some nice hands in tight for his first-ever OUA goal.
Chartier's goal gave Western a 3-1 lead, but two five-on-three's helped Roy score a pair of power play goals and send the game into the intermission all tied at threes. Both of Roy's goals came on similar-looking slappers through a screen, frustrating a Western team that has been tops in the league on the penalty kill all year.
Gaskin had the only goal in the second period before adding one in the third and an encore in overtime. His performance helped earn an important two points in the standings, especially considering that Western heads into their toughest test of the year tomorrow, and on a tight turnaround to boot.
"In terms of looking ahead to tomorrow, I mean we play one of the best teams in the country and we try to go into the weekend looking at the quick turnaround," said Singer. "We played four lines most of the night, so my hope is we'll be okay tomorrow with our energy systems and our focus.
"Any time you get a chance to play Trois-Rivieres it's going to be a great hockey game. We had a great one last year and hopefully we're ready to go."
NOTES: MacAuley's goal was not just his first OUA goal but also his first OUA point. Chartier, on the other hand, already had three assists on the year before scoring his first OUA marker tonight… Marantz's two points help keep his early point streak going, as he now has points in all eight of Western's games so far this season…
Source: Western Mustangs
2118 fans saw Lakehead take the lead three times and the Wolves never trailed until the game finally ended with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Nipissing Lakers at the Fort William Gardens Friday night.
After a first period in which there were no goals scored and no penalties assessed, Lakehead took a 1-0 lead at 8:28 of the second on a wrap-around goal by Linden Springer with Garick Gray picking up the assist.
Erik Robichaud replied for Nipissing at 11:36, but just over a minute later Jake Ringuette's wrist shot deflected of a Laker defenceman and past Nipissing netminder Kirk Rafuse to put the Wolves back in front 2-1. Justin Sefton and Sam Schutt were credited with the helpers.
The Lakers knotted the score at 2-2 when Colin Campbell tipped a point shot that snuck between Lakehead goalie Devin Green's pads late in the middle stanza.
With the Wolves on the power play, Jake Wright put Lakehead up 3-2 when he deflected Sefton's point shot at 4:33 of the third, with Kelin Ainsworth getting the other assist.
Then with a little under five minutes remaining in regulation, Nipissing's Brock Morrison evened the score to force overtime after Green mishandled the puck and was caught out of position.
The game ended just 50 seconds into extra time when Nipissing's Mackenzie Keirstead re-directed a shot over Green's shoulder.
Final shots on goal for the night were 37-33 for Nipissing.
With the O.T. loss, the Wolves collected one point in the standings but still remain winless in OUA play with a record of 0-6-1 in the regular season and 2-8-2 overall.
Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves
Sheppard scores in OT for win over Paladins
The York University Lions men's hockey team defeated the RMC Paladins by a score 6-5 in overtime on Friday night (Nov. 6) in Kingston, Ont., thanks to Derek Sheppard's winner 2:15 into the extra frame.
The Paladins appeared to be headed to victory as the seconds wore off the clock in the last minute, but Justin Larson (Buckhorn, Ont.) scored with just eight seconds left to send the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) put the game away for his fourth point of the night after three assists in regulation.
The Lions gave up two first-period goals to the Paladins in the first period, but the Lions came out firing on all cylinders in the second. The first goal that cut the lead in half came from Trevor Petersen (Thornhill, Ont.), assisted by Sheppard just 1:52 into the period on the power play.
Just over two and a half minutes later, RMC's Eric Louis-Seize got a goal back to regain a two goal lead for the Paladins, but this RMC tally sparked the eventual comeback as Shayne Rover (New Market, Ont.) scored to make it 3-2 with assists going to Larson and Greg Milner (Watford, Ont.).
A minute and a half later the Lions attacked again, this time with Reid Jackman (Brampton, Ont.) getting on the board to tie the game up at threes.
At the 18:11 mark of the second period the Lions weren't done as they set up another successful power play, and finishing it off was Milner from Petersen and Sheppard. The third period was reminiscent of the first as the Lions gave up to two quick goals to the Paladins, the first coming John Livingston and the second from Scott Domenico just past the mid-way point of the third for a 5-4 RMC lead. But Larson's heroics in the final seconds gave the Lions their sixth victory of the season as they improved to 6-1-1 and remain in second place in the OUA West.
The Lions are back in action on Saturday (Nov. 7) when they travel to Ottawa to face the Carleton Ravens at 7pm.
Source: York Lions
Ravens win a wild one over Brock 5-4 in OT
(OTTAWA, ON) — It was by no means their prettiest effort of the young season, but the Carleton Ravens men's hockey team got the job done on home ice Friday night, edging the visiting Brock Badgers 5-4 in overtime. Ravens forward Brett Gustavsen (Scarborough, ON) led the way with a pair of goals in the win, which saw Carleton improve to 5-3-0 on the season.
"It was a game with a lot of momentum shifts, but the guys battled and worked for their chances — I'm glad we got the win," said Ravens head coach Marty Johnston. "The Meighan-line was the difference in the game, in terms of the momentum they created — Hulton, Meighan, Gustavsen — I don't think we're on top tonight without their effort."
Carleton took a 3-2 lead into the first intermission after a crazy opening frame which saw the teams combine for 3 goals in a span of just 62 seconds, and score all five goals in just over five minutes. The onslaught resulted in Brock starting goaltender Clint Windsor being pulled in favour of backup Real Cormier.
The game settled down with a myriad of big hits, clutch saves, and rattled posts swinging the momentum back and forth.
Brock evened things up at three apiece late in the second frame, as Jamie Kendra wired a powerplay one-timer past Ravens netminder Patrick Killeen (Corkery, ON) at 16:05.
Killeen was then lifted by Coach Johnston in an unorthodox early-period change a few minutes into the third in favour of backup Francis Dupuis (Ottawa, ON).
"He was battling a flu all day, I just didn't feel he had much left in the tank — the decision was based on health — he's a winner, and he's courageous, he didn't want to come out," said Johnston post-game.
Gustavsen and Brock captain Dan Tanel then traded goals in the final frame, sending the game to overtime with the two sides locked at four.
In overtime, Captain Joey West (Orleans, ON) found a pinching Connor Boland (Whitby, ON) on a slick feed, and the freshman blueliner made no mistake, beating Cormier and securing both points on the night for Carleton.
Source: Carleton Ravens
Blues edge Warriors in see-saw affair
In a back-and-forth game between two evenly-matched teams, sometimes it's the slimmest of margins that decide a winner. In Friday night's contest between the Waterloo Warriors and Toronto Varsity Blues, that margin was 43 seconds.
The Blues snapped a 3-3 tie with two goals in a 43-second span late in the second period, as they defeated the Warriors 5-4 on Friday night at Varsity Arena in Toronto.
The loss sees the Warriors fall back below .500 at 4-5-0 on the season. The top line was once again a bright spot for Waterloo, as Colin Behenna (Waterloo) notched a goal and two assists, while Andrew Smith (Kitchener) scored twice. The pair has now combined for 12 points in the last two games.
Mike Morrison (Hamilton) made his return from injury in the Warriors net, but it's not likely how he'd have scripted his return – Morrison faced only 14 shots on the night, turning aside nine in the loss.
Three different Varsity Blues registered multi-point games, including Matthew Campagna, who netted the eventual game-winning goal in the last minute of the second period. The loss snaps Toronto's 3-game losing streak, and improves their record to 3-4-1 on the season.
After taking a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes, the Blues extended their lead on the power play just seven seconds into the middle frame. But the Warriors chipped away, and Smith scored twice in less than four minutes to square the game at 3-3.
But with under two minutes to play in the second period, the Blues struck twice in succession to restore the two-goal lead. The Warriors had a golden opportunity to strike back early in the third when Toronto's Matthew Oakley took a major penalty for a check to the head of Smith, and Brett Mackie (Whitby) tipped home a point shot early in the man advantage to cut the lead to 5-4.
But the Blues battened down the hatches after that, killing off the rest of the 5-minute power play. The Warriors once again came close with Morrison on the bench for the extra attacker, but they were unable to find the late equalizer.
The Warriors will now look to get back into the win column when they host the season's first installment of the Battle of Waterloo – the Warriors and the Laurier Golden Hawks will square off at the Columbia Icefield Arena on Saturday night, with puck drop slated for 7pm.
Source: Waterloo Warriors
No. 4 Redmen too much for Rams
TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams ended up on the losing side of things Friday night, in a lopsided 6-1 loss to the now 8-1 No. 4 McGill Redmen.
The Redmen appeared to be just too much to handle in this one, showing the Rams an excellent example of what it takes to be a CIS contender.
When Rams head coach Graham Wise was asked about what he thought of McGill after the game, he had only one word to describe them, outstanding.
"I'd say that they're the best team we've seen so far this year," said Wise. "An outstanding hockey team."
The Rams were able to hold the Redmen to just a single goal in the first period, but the final 40 minutes turned out to be a vastly different story.
Early in the second McGill's Liam Heelis beat Rams starting goaltender Troy Passingham far side, to give the Redmen a 2-0 lead.
Heelis' sixth goal of the year seemed to rally the troops in this one, as Redgie Bois found the back of the night just moments before Jonathan Bonneau would do the same, capping off a series of four unanswered goals for a 4-0 second period lead.
The Rams looked to chip away at that lead after Mitch Gallant sent a blast of a shot past an impressive Jacob Gervais-Chouinard. Gallant's first of the year swung the momentum in favor of the Rams, but Chouinard was just too good in this tilt, stopping everything the Rams threw at him the dying minutes of the second.
McGill then sealed the deal with two third period goals from Daniel Milne and Dominic Talbot-Tassi to stroll to a 6-1 victory over the Rams.
The 6-1 final doesn't necessarily represent how the Rams played throughout this match and Wise insists they can take some positives out of the loss and hopefully improve their game moving forward.
"We said to the guys after the game that their's the benchmark for us," said Wise. "We didn't think it was a 6-1 game. What I liked about our team is that usually when it gets like that you get off your game, but I think we stuck to it and battled for a full 60 minutes."
The Rams Passingham headed into Friday night's game with a perfect 4-0 record on the line, while Chouinard bet his incredible 7-0 record also. Chouinard came out on top in this one, stopping 32 of the 33 shots he faced to bring his record to a perfect 8-0 on the year.
"Choiunard's been a pro goalie," said Wise. "He played in the AHL and I felt we either had to go up stairs or off the pads on him. We put a lot of stuff in his midsection. That being said, the kid played a great game tonight."
With the loss to Laurier Thursday night and the 6-1 loss on Friday, the Rams move to 5-4 on the season and look to improve their record on the road when they face off against the Nipissing Lakers and the Laurentian Voyageurs next weekend.
Source: McGill Redmen
Gryphons fall 2-0 in Queen's Cup re-match vs UQTR
Guelph, ON - Last season in the playoffs, the Gryphons had UQTR's number, defeating them in the Queen's Cup to capture the OUA title as well as at the University Cup in Halifax to capture CIS Bronze. Friday night at the Gryphon Centre, the Patriotes got a little revenge with a 2-0 victory over the Gryphons. With the loss, the Gryphons fall to 3-5-0 on the season while the No. 6-ranked Patriotes improve to 7-1-1 on the season. UQTR goalie Sebastien Auger made 36 saves for the shutout.
The first period saw both teams on top of their game defensively. There weren't a lot of scoring chances in the period, but the best scoring chances of the period went to UQTR. However, the Patriotes were unable to solve Gryphon goalie Andrew D'Agostini early on, as he turned away all 11 shots sent his way to keep the game scoreless heading to the 2nd.
The 2nd period took on a life of its own in a very eventful, action packed, penalty-filled period. The chippy affair saw the Gryphons and Patriotes take penalty after penalty, some of which led to a four minute power play opportunity for the Gryphons midway through the period. Unfortunately for the Gryphons, they were unable to capitalize on the extended man advantage as the game remained deadlocked at 0-0. UQTR would finally open the scoring on a power play of their own when Martin Lefebvre finished off some nice passing to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The Gryphons had one last power to end the 2nd period creating chance after chance but were unable to solve Patriotes goalie Sebastien Auger who stood tall the entire night. As the power play was about to come to a close with 24 seconds left in the second, it appears the Gryphons had tied it up as Robert Lepine's tip found the back of the net. However, after the refs huddled up, they would wave off the goal citing the net behind Auger was dislodged. As a result, UQTR was able to head to the 3rd period with their 1-0 lead still intact.
UQTR was able to extend their lead to 2-0 in the 3rd period on a shorthanded goal from Carl-Antoine Delisle. Delisle split a pair of defenders and beat D'Agostini blocker side to double the lead. The Gryphs had a window of opportunity to mount a comeback on a 5 on 3 with 10:11 remaining in the game but Auger was up to the task as he thwarted the Guelph attack all night. The Gryphons finished the night 0-for-8 on the power play. Between the two teams, there were 94 minutes of penalties and 6 misconducts.
The Gryphons are back on the ice Saturday night (Nov. 7) as they look to rebound as they host the Concordia Stingers at the Gryphon Centre. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Source: Guelph Gryphons
Win streak snapped as UOIT beats Queen's 5-3
KINGSTON, Ont. (November 6, 2015) - The Queen's Gaels (5-2-0) saw their four game win streak snapped as the visiting UOIT RIdgebacks (5-3-0) came into Kingston and beat the Gaels 5-3 in OUA men's hockey action on Friday night at the Memorial Centre in Kingston.
GAME FLOW
Gaels starting goaltender Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) was tested early and often in the opening period as the visiting Ridgebacks finished the first having fired a total of 14 shots on net compared to the Gaels five.
A late first period power play saw one of those 14 beat Bailie as Luke VanMoerkerke struck to give the Ridgebacks a 1-0 lead late in the period.
In the second the visitors continued to put the Gaels on their heels as they tallied two goals in less than two minutes early in the second. The second of the two came shorthanded from Connor Jarvis. Nearly five minutes later the lead was 4-0 for the visitors. Queen's was able to get on the scoreboard late in the second period as Peter Angelopolous (Nobleton, Ont.) tallied his second goal of the season.
The Gaels made a game of it in the third picking up an early goal from Slater Doggett (Oakville, Ont.) and got another in the closing minutes from Andrew Wiebe (Thunder Bay, Ont.) to cut the deficit to just one.
With their net empty the Ridgebacks were able to find the open cage and seal the game with a 5-3 win.
Bailie finished with 29 saves in the loss while Ridgeback starter Brendan O'Neill stopped 26 shots for the win.
BY THE NUMBERS
2in2 - Gaels and Ridgebacks finish off their two games in two nights home and home weekend tomorrow
4 - Game win streak snapped by Queen's
5 - Points in five games for Angelopolous this season
UP NEXT
The Gaels will now travel to Oshawa to take on the Ridgebacks tomorrow night at 7:30pm.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Laurentian leaps to victory with third period outburst
After the Windsor Lancers took a three goal lead, the Laurentian Voyageurs scored six in the third period to win by a final score of 7-3.
On a powerplay goal, Eric Noel opened up the scoring for the Lancers in the first period. Brennan Feasey put a quick one in to start off the second, keeping their momentum flowing. Half way through the game, Noel scored his seventh of the season to give his team a 3-0 lead.
After letting in three goals, Alain Valiquette stopped anything that came towards him and made thirty-two saves throughout the game. Laurentian's offence was sparked after the Lancers third goal, scoring less than thirty seconds after was Darcy Haines. An unassisted goal gave his team their first tally.
In the third period it was all Voyageurs, with six different goal scorers helping their team with a dominating show. Elliott Richardson scored a short-handed goal, two minutes later Daniel Pachis tied up the game. Windsor did not take their starting goaltender out of the game, which Laurentian capitalized on scoring three goals in less than a minute.
With the go-ahead goal, Blake Forslund scored his first of the season. Followed by Brent Pederson and Brandon Fransisco each putting up one of their own. The Lancers attempted to pull their goalie early, trying to shift some of the play. Sebastien Leroux took advantage of that, earning an insurance goal late in the game on the empty net.
The Voyageurs broke late in the game to come up with seven unanswered goals from seven different players, handing Windsor their second loss of the season. Laurentian's next game is a rematch with the Windsor Lancers on Saturday, November 7 at 4:00pm at the Windsor Arena.
Source: Laurentian Voyageurs
