AROUND OUA : Warriors upset No. 10 nationally ranked Lions
The No. 10 nationally-ranked York University Lions men's hockey team fell to the Waterloo Warriors by a score of 4-1 Friday night (Nov. 20) at Canlan Ice Sports.
SCOREBOARD
UQTR 3 @ Laurentian 1
The No. 10 nationally-ranked York University Lions men's hockey team fell to the Waterloo Warriors by a score of 4-1 Friday night (Nov. 20) at Canlan Ice Sports.
The Lions came roaring out of the gates in the early part of the first period on Friday night as Tyler Mort (Keswick, Ont.) and Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) both hit the crossbar within the first two minutes of the frame.
Waterloo came back firing and the Warriors began to apply pressure on Lions goaltender Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.). Eventually they managed to sneak a puck by him, with Riley Sonnenburg crashing the net on a shot from the corner and poking the rebound across the crease at the 12:45 mark of the first period.
Later in the first period the Warriors were on the attack once again, this time with a cross ice tape-to-tape pass from Phillip Fife to Daniel Perigo that found the back of the net as Perugini couldn't get across in time to make the save, giving the Warriors a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Moments into the second period the Warriors drew a penalty on the Lions and sent out their power play unit. With the man advantage the Warriors moved the puck around effectively and found the open man, Adam Bignell, at the point where Bignell wired a shot past Perugini to give the Warriors a commanding 3-0 lead.
The goaltending performance by Mike Morrison of the Warriors in the first two periods was top notch as Morrison turned aside all 23 shots he faced going into the third.
The entire game up until late in the third period saw only two penalties called, but this trend would change as the Warriors took five penalties late which allowed the Lions to crawl back into the game. As a 5-on-3 advantage concluded for the Lions, and as the Warrior player jumped out of the box, Trevor Petersen (Thornhill, Ont.) redirected a point shot from Sheppard which cut the Warriors lead to 3-1. But that was as close as the Lions would come, as the Warriors iced the game with an empty net goal to give the Lions their first regulation loss at home this season.
The Lions are now 7-2-3 on the year and remain in second place in the OUA West standings, while the Warriors improved to 5-8-0.
The Lions will be back on the ice on Saturday (Nov. 21) as they welcome the CIS top-ranked McGill Redmen to Canlan Ice Sports at 7pm.
Source: York Lions
Campbell's OT winner extends Lakers streak to five
It may not have been the prettiest win the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team has picked up this year, but no matter how it happened, it's their fifth straight.
The Lakers needed double overtime to end their game Friday night against the Concordia Stingers, but after tying the game up in the third period, Colin Campbell rifled a shot to the top corner to give the Lakers the 3-2 win and the extra point over the Stingers.
Nipissing erased two one-goal deficits and backed by a very impressive goaltending effort by veteran Kirk Rafuse, picked up another win to improve their record to 7-3-3 and stay tied for third place with UOIT.
Thanks to a lot of time on the power play, the Stingers opened up the scoring and controlled much of the first part of the game.
Less than three minutes into the game, the Lakers found themselves down 1-0 and in some penalty trouble.
About five minutes later, Mitch Deacon finished off a nice passing play with Jacob Conrad to tie the game at one, but that lead didn't last long.
Less than a minute later, the Stingers took the lead once again and held the one goal advantage until the third period.
After putting on pressure for much of the first 10 minutes, the Lakers finally broke through to even the game up at two as Mackenzie Keirstead continued his strong season, scoring on the power play.
Dylan Staples chipped the puck back to the defenceman who fired a shot to the top corner of the net to knot things up.
The score would stay that way until halfway through the second overtime period when Campbell kept the puck on a partial 2-on-1 and snapped a shot to the back of the net to give Nipissing the victory.
The Lakers last loss came on Halloween to Western and since then, they have surrendered only 12 goals and have found their offensive stride, scoring 19 times.
Rafuse was very good in net, especially early in the game, and finished with 32 saves for the win.
Nipissing will look to keep their hot streak going Saturday night when they face the always tough UQTR Patriotes, who sit in second place in the East Division, just behind fellow Quebec based McGill.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.
Source: Nipissing Lakers
Delmas dominant but Ridgebacks squeeze out a win over Western
LONDON, Ont. – The team that entered this season with two of the most highly-touted goaltenders in the CIS finally got the game-stealing performance they were waiting for.
Unfortunately, Western just couldn't get away with robbery.
Peter Delmas made an incredible 50 saves and Alex Micallef tied the game late in the second period, but a goal from Ryan Doucette late in the third gave the UOIT Ridgebacks a 3-2 victory in front of a rowdy crowd at Thompson Arena Friday night.
"I always like getting more shots, it keeps you in the game" said Delmas. "I just felt really good tonight, just tried to stick with my game plan during the whole game and I did. We were pretty tired—we only had four d—so it was really hard to play last night and then tonight for those defence. I think our four d played awesome and they did a great job in front of [me]."
"He played his best game we've seen and that's the AHL Delmas we've seen and what we brought him here for," said Micallef of his backstop, a former pro in the Colorado and Montreal organizations. "If it wasn't for him… he did a great job and kept us in there."
Western has put up with injuries and small rosters all season, but Friday night was the first time that the team truly looked out of gas. It showed most in the second period, which saw the Ridgebacks outshoot the Mustangs 27-3. Western didn't even manage a shot until Connor Chartier was hauled down on a breakaway with 2:33 remaining in the frame.
Chartier didn't score on the ensuing penalty shot but Micallef would a minute later, jamming in a rebound past UOIT's Brendan O'Neill to tie the game at 2-2. The goal gave a huge boost to Western's crowd, who had just witnessed an entirely Ridgeback-dominated period.
"I think we definitely felt the effects [of the back-to-back] tonight," said Western head coach #Clarke Singer. "We've seen it earlier in the year when we've played back-to-back against a rested team but tonight UOIT definitely had more juice than us, a lot more energy. They had a lot more contact, they played harder than us, and I think they deserved the win."
There's no question that the Ridgebacks looked like the better team on Friday. Already a squad with tons of speed to spare, they consistently took advantage of tired plays by the Mustangs and created a number of odd-man rushes. Mark Petaccio led the way on offence, scoring UOIT's first two goals before registering an assist on Doucette's winner in the third.
Petaccio opened the scoring just over five minutes into the first period, but veteran Luke Karaim got Western on the board just over 30 seconds later. Western's leading scorer Matt Marantz earned a helper on the Mustangs opening goal and added another on Micallef's marker late in the second, helping his team head into the third with an improbable 2-2 tie.
When Western hit the ice on the third, they looked like a completely different team. It didn't hurt that they were handed their first power play of the game 21 seconds in, but regardless the Mustangs were able to control the play and appeared to be motivated with the end in sight.
"It was just great because we had a chance to win," Delmas said of his team's mood heading into the third. "We were right in it, win the period win the game type of thing, so we were positive and I thought we started off the period really well too so that's all you can do is try and give your team a chance to win."
Delmas' brilliant performance, which saw him turn aside the largest onslaught of shots that UOIT has thrown on a team in program history, helped to overshadow an impressive performance from UOIT's O'Neill, who had a couple of really nice scramble saves in a 14-save third period. He finished with 24 saves, stats that don't do his performance justice.
Both goaltenders were strong in the final frame, which saw them trade excellent butterfly saves on scramble plays, some of which saw at least three shots be fired their way. O'Neill absolutely robbed David Corrente at the end of a solid series of saves in the third, just minutes after Delmas made the save of the season with his toe during a busy penalty kill.
In the end, it would take one final scramble play for UOIT to pull out the win. The game-winning marker came at the end of a series of excellent saves by Delmas, who could do nothing but sit as Doucette found the only space available between the goalie and two defencemen.
Overall, Singer wasn't in bad spirits after the game despite having suffered two straight losses, stressing the quality of the opponents that Western had to face. He also couldn't say enough about the performance of his four-man defensive core through both games.
"Great job by those guys," said Singer of his defence. "To have two very, very close games two quality opponents the last couple nights with on four d back there. They did a great job."
As for his thoughts on Delmas' play, he saw nothing but positives.
"All year our goalies have played very, very well; even some games we've given up some big numbers we just had some mental mistakes," said Singer. "But certainly nice to see Peter have a game like that. He's been working hard in practice and nice to see him get back to the form I think he expects of himself."
NOTES: With his two assists on Friday, Marantz is now first in the OUA with 15 helpers… Not surprisingly, Friday was the first time that Western had allowed over 50 shots all season. Neither goaltender had made more than 40 saves in a game so far this year…
Source: Western Mustangs
Badgers drop 3-0 decision to No. 1 ranked Redmen
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University men's hockey team (5-5-3 OUA) dropped a 3-0 decision to the No. 1 ranked McGill Redmen (12-1-0) Friday night at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.
McGill opened the scoring 7:50 into the opening period as Simon Tardif-Richard and Mathieu Pompei setup Dominic Talbot-Tassi for his fifth goal of the season.
With the Badgers two men down at 12:15 of the first period, the Redmen would capitalize, as Samuel Labrecque buried a shot past Brock starter Clint Windsor (Hamilton, Ont.) to take a 2-0 lead. Late in the period, Brock's Mitch Nardi (Hamilton, Ont.) would take a cross ice pass, but it was McGill starter Jacob Gervais-Chouinard coming up with a big save.
Late in the third period, McGill's Liam Heelis would add a short-handed marker to secure the road victory.
Windsor recorded 39 saves in the loss, while Gervais-Chouinard turned aside all 32 shots he faced for the shutout victory.
In the OUA West Division, just six points separates first through sixth place. The Badgers return to action Saturday night as they take on the Laurier Golden Hawks on the road.
Source: Brock Badgers
Guelph, ON- Friday night at the Gryphon Centre, the Gryphons Men's Hockey team defeated the visiting Queens Gaels 4-2-0. With the win, the Gryphons improve to 7-5 while the Gaels fall to 8-3-0.
Coming into this game, both squads were riding high on the momentum of three game win streaks, winning seven of their past ten matchups. This interdivision battle between two of the hottest teams in the OUA started quick. Within 30 seconds of the opening face off, a dump-in turned into a lightning speed break out and a Gryphon goal. Carlos Amestoy netted his first of the season, assisted by Rpb De Fulviis and Scott Simmonds. Unfortunately, the Gryphons got into penalty trouble. After successfully killing off the first with ease, a consecutive penalty allowed the Gaels to tie the game with 4:41 left in the first period. Queens' leading goal scorer, McGillis, scored his seventh of the season with a wide-open shot from the slot, assisted by Abraham and Downe.
Five minutes into the second period, the Gryphons forced an interference penalty by driving hard to the net on a short three-on-one. Just over a minute into the powerplay, with smart, rapid passing, the Gryphs found Seth Swenson in the slot. Dylan Gilbert to Robert Lepine to Swenson, tic-tac-toe the puck is in the net and the Gryphons take the lead back. Seconds later, Stephen Hiff feeds Nick Trecapelli at the point. Trecapelli takes aim, fires, goal. Just like that, Guelph is in possession of a two-goal lead. To go along with the two-goal lead were two failed clearing attempts made by the Gryphons in the last minute of the second period, they were on their heels and under unneeded pressure until a tipped pass meant for the blueline lead to a Gryphon two-on-one. The cross-crease saucer pass over the sliding defender skipped over the attackers stick and the Gryphons took the lead into the second intermission.
In the third period, Gryphons netminder Andrew D'Agostini made crucial saves to maintain the lead but he could only do so much. Halfway through the third, after a scramble in front of the net and countless deflected shots, Abraham squeezed a wraparound between the post and the D'agostini's pads to cut the lead in half. The lead was nearly restored by a stretch pass from the defensive zone to send Simmonds on a breakaway but he was just inches offside as he waited to receive the pass. There was back-and-forth play the rest of the way but nothing the Gryphons couldn't handle. With under a minute left to play in the third period and the Gaels' goalie pulled, Cody Thompson capped the Gryphons fourth straight win with an empty-net goal. The Gryphons are back in action Saturday afternoon when they host UOIT (8-3-1) at 3pm.
Source: Guelph Gryphons
Rams drop heart breaker to visiting Ravens
TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams came out on the losing side of a heartbreaker Friday night, suffering a 4-3 loss to the Carleton Ravens.
The Rams were down but never out in this one and showed just that by battling back from a two-goal deficit in the third. However, the late rally just wasn't enough for the Rams, who gave up a late third period goal to give the Ravens their fourth consecutive victory.
The Ravens jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to their top scorer, Brett Welychka. Welychka snuck in back door and sent one past Rams starting goaltender Troy Passingham for his 19th point and his eighth goal of the season. Ryan Van Stralin then followed suit for the Ravens who also scored his eighth on a similar back door play, doubling the Carleton lead to two.
The Rams then found some success early in the second. On the power play, Jason Kelly found himself all alone in the slot and sent home his fifth of the season past Ravens starting goaltender Francis Dupuis. Kelly's power play marker cut the Ravens lead in half, but the one goal deficit wouldn't stay for long. Van Stralin scored his second of the night on a questionable deflection, but it would go on to count and sent the Ravens into the second intermission with a controlling 3-1 lead.
The Rams then came to life in the third thanks to a gorgeous goal from Rams rookie Chris Marchese. Marchese in his first career CIS game netted his first career CIS goal, putting the Rams within striking distance with just over 15 minutes remaining. Moments later Rams captain Michael Fine deflected a Keevin Cutting shot from the point to extend his point streak to seven games and tie the contest at three.
Despite sustained third period pressure from the Rams, it was the Ravens who capitalized on a lucky bounce. Mitch Zion was in the right place at the right time after a bouncing puck in front found its way to his stick and with a swift flick, Zion netted his first of the year and gave the Ravens a late third period lead.
Zion's goal proved to be the winner in this one, as Carleton improved their road record to 4-0 on the season with a 4-3 win over the Rams.
Ryerson head coach Graham Wise is well aware that there are positives to be found in the loss, as it comes against one of best teams in the OUA.
"We knew coming in that they were a very good team," stated Rams head coach Graham Wise. "I think we played really well defensively. We held them to 28 shots, which in my mind, was pretty good. They're a pretty explosive team and I'm happy with our effort."
Another thing Wise must surely be happy about is the new addition of Marchese to the lineup. Marchese missed the beginning of the season due to an injury, but looked in tip top shape in his first CIS game on Friday.
"He's highly skilled and you can see that when he scores in his first game," said Wise. "He has remarkable vision and he can play on the power play or the penalty kill. He's a great addition."
For Marchese, he's just happy to be back on the ice; the goal was just a bonus. "It's fun to get back out there after being away a couple months cause of an injury," said Marchese. "I just needed to get my legs under me and after that the puck just started to stick a little better and I was lucky enough to put one in. "
The Rams won't have much time if any to dwell over Friday night's loss to the Ravens. The Rams will lace them up in less than 24 hours, as they prepare to take on Royal Military College of Canada.
The Saturday afternoon affair is scheduled for a 2:30 pm puck drop on Mattamy Home Ice. If you can't make it to MAC you can stream the game live on OUA.TV.
Source: Ryerson Rams
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team combined a shutout performance from goaltender Andrew Hunt with an offensive outpour to secure a 5-0 victory over the visiting RMC Paladins on Friday night (Nov. 20) at Varsity Arena.
Hunt, making his first career start, turned aside all 46 shots he faced, including some incredible efforts late in the second frame to earn his first career OUA shutout.
Offensively, first-year standout Mathew Campagna led the way scoring the eventual game-winner midway through the first period. Battling down low in the RMC zone, fourth-year forward Christian Finch sent the puck across the crease to find the backhand of Campagna, who finished the strong play off to put the Blues on the board.
Just two minutes later, first-year forward Ryan Kirkup netted his first career goal as a Varsity Blue, burying a big rebound off a Charlie Connell point shot to put Toronto up 2-0 after the first period.
The offence continued early in the second period as second-year forward Max Flanagan was left alone in front of the Paladins net. The Edmonton native gloved the puck down and banged home U of T's third of the game less than two minutes into the period.
At the 12:36 mark of the second, Finch joined the party, converting a wrap-around effort on the power-play to extend the Toronto lead to 4-0 entering the third period. Finch ended the game with one goal and two assists.
Third-year forward Connor Cleverley rounded out the scoring, finishing off a beautiful 2-on-1 opportunity with Kirkup for a shorthanded marker.
The Varsity Blues will look to ride the momentum from the big Friday night win as they welcome the Carleton Ravens to Varsity Arena Saturday night (Nov. 21) with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Lancers shut out Thunderwolves
The Lancer Men's hockey team earned two points in a 2-0 victory over Lakehead Thunderwolves Friday night in Windsor.
With the win the Lancers move to 7-2-2 on the season and end a four-game losing streak, while the Thunderwolves continue to look for their first win of the season as they move to an 0-10-1 record.
The game got off to a quick start with both teams trading chances early. But both Blake Richard and Lakehead's Devin Green shut the door through the first period.
The second period was much of the same, with Richard and Green both standing tall in net. Many chances were traded back and forth but it was a goalies game. At 17:21 of the period, Dylan Seguin finally broke the dead lock on a pretty play set up by Mike Christou and Blake Blondeel.
The Lancers extended their lead at 4:28 of the third period to make the game 2-0. Dylan Denomme scored on the power play after being set up by Seguin and Steve Anthony.
Richard made 28 saves to earn the shutout for the Blue & Gold, while Green also registered 28 saves in the loss.
The two teams will face off again on Saturday night in game two of the weekend doubleheader. The puck drops at 7:30pm at South Windsor Arena and can also be seen live at www.oua.tv!
Source: Windsor Lancers
