AROUND OUA: Gee-Gees down Lakehead 3-1, stay perfect in 2017

SCOREBOARD

Lakehead 1 @ Ottawa 3

RMC 1 @ McGill 2

UQTR 4 @ Wateloo 0

Laurentian 2 @ Carleton 3

Brock 5 @ Western 3

Concordia 2 @ Laurier 0

York 0 @ Windsor 1

Rookie Gauthier tallies winner as McGill pucksters outmanoeuvre military men

MONTREAL -- Rookie Guillaume Gauthier of Ste. Marthe sur le Lac, Que., notched the game-winner as No.3 ranked McGill escaped with a 2-1 victory over last-place Royal Military College in OUA men's hockey at McConnell Arena on Saturday.

The victory propelled McGill to the top of the OUA East standings with a 15-4-2 record, one point ahead of idle Queen's (15-4-1). The Redmen outshot their guests 33-23 and improved their record to 67-8-4 in 79 lifetime meetings with the Paladins.

After a scoreless first period, Torin O'Brien put RMC on the board at 10:55 of the middle frame, assisted by Bennett Huber.

Simon Tardif-Richard, a finance junior from Gatineau, Que., tied it up for the Redmen less than three minutes later, at 13:44. Christophe Lalonde of Mirabel, Que., and Mathieu Pompei of Laval, Que., were credited with the assists. Pompei, who entered the weekend as the OUA scoring leader, dropped one point off the pace with a 9-23-32 record in 21 games. He holds a game in hand on Carleton's Michael McNamee, who has a 12-21-33 record.

Gauthier, a 5-foot-10, 196-pound physical education freshman, tallied what proved to be the winner just 78 seconds into the final stanza, set up by team captain Patrick Delisle-Houde of Quebec City. Gauthier is McGill's top-scoring newcomer with a 4-10-14 record in 21 outings, good enough to ranked ninth among OUA rookie leaders.

McGill netminder Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, a senior from Sherbrooke, Que., turned away 22 pucks as his record improved to 7-2. His Paladins counterpart, Matthew Murphy, stopped 31 of 33 shots in the loss as he dropped to 4-14.

The Redmen were 0-for-6 on the power play and killed off all seven penalties taken.

McGill (15-4-2) next plays ninth-ranked Concordia (15-5-1) in the 30th annual Ronald Corey Cup game on Jan. 20 at Ed Meagher Arena. The Redmen are 16-8-3 in Corey Cup play – emblematic of local college hockey supremacy – while the Stingers are 9-17-3, including a 1-1 record against UQTR. The Paladins (4-17-1) return to the ice against Waterloo (7-10-3) on Jan. 27.

REDMEN RAP: Defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi was held pointless for the second straight game. He has a 3-20-23 record in 21 games, two points shy of UQTR's Martin Lefebvre, who leads all blueliners with 8-17-25 in 21 contests... Rookie goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon, who has a 8-4 record, dropped into second among league leaders in goals-against average (1.91), fourth in save percentage (.929), fourth in wins, sixth in shutouts (1)... The Redmen lead the OUA in both PP goals (26) and PP chances (121) and rank fourth with a PP success rate of 21.5 per cent... McGill is ranked third for most times shorthanded (109) and sit ninth in PK success rate (85.3 per cent)... McGill has scored 35 per cent of their goals on special teams (28/80) and have allowed 35.4 per cent of their goals against on special teams (17/48).

Source: McGill Redmen

Welychka completes comeback for Ravens as team edges Voyageurs in double overtime

OTTAWA, ON – Following the back-and-forth dramatics of two overtime periods, the Ravens men's hockey team emerged as the Saturday-night victor, defeating the Laurentian Voyageurs with a 3-2 final at the Ice House.

BOX SCORE

Despite trailing for most of regulation, the Ravens managed to overcome a persistent Laurentian group for their fourth consecutive win. Leading the way was team captain Michael McNamee (Perth, ON) who played a part in all three Ravens' goals, finishing the night with one goal and two assists.

"At the end of the day, our leaders really stepped up tonight and kind of carried the mail for us," says Ravens head coach Marty Johnston, as his group remains perfect throughout the back half of their season. "McNamee and Welychka showed why they're elite players in the league and they made it happen when we needed them to."

Having totalled 18 goals in their last three games, the Ravens raced out of the gate with clear intentions of keeping their offence rolling. Four minutes into opening period, a centre-ice pass from Alexandre Boivin (Ottawa, ON) found a streaking McNamee at the Laurentian blueline. While drawing a holding penalty from the defenceman draped over his back, McNamee broke into the Voyageurs' slot where he would roof a backhand shot past Charlie Millen for the game's opening goal.

The Ravens' lead, however, would be short-lived as the Voyageurs responded the following shift. Off the rush, Voyageurs' alternate captain Caleb Apperson drove to the top of the right-side faceoff circle where he would fire a bullet through the arm of Francois Brassard (Gatineau, QC), tying the game at one.

Feeding off their opening tally, the Voyageurs' offence was quickly handed another opportunity after a Carleton roughing penalty sent them to the power play. Less than a minute into the man advantage, leading scorer Brent Pedersen took full advantage of a net-front crowd, rifling a wrist shot into the top-left corner of the Ravens' cage and giving his team a 2-1 lead.

But almost simultaneously, the Voyageurs' early offensive success would slow down. The team struggled to reach double-digit points in all three regulation periods, leaving the possibility of a Ravens' comeback within their opponents' reach.

"Our last game with them was definitely in our heads so we knew we had to be prepared to step up tonight," says Brett Welychka (London, ON), as the Voyageurs handed the Ravens a 3-1 loss back in November. "They came prepared with the work ethic and made it tough on us."

Following a frantic second period that saw Millen turn away a flurry of scoring chances, the Ravens' entered the third with a run-and-gun offence that looked to pull them to a tie.

Two minutes into the period, a behind-the-net pass from McNamee found Boivin for a quick left-side snap shot. With Millen scrambling to reach the shot, Boivin tucked the puck just inside the left post, bringing the game to a 2-2 tie.

Bovin's tally would prove to be the final of regulation as last-minute drives from both teams fell short of a game-winning goal. And with neither the Ravens or Voyageurs able to solve each other through five minutes of four-on-four overtime, the puck was dropped for another five minutes of three-on-three.

Nearly three minutes into double overtime, a Ravens' own-zone takeaway sprung McNamee and Welychka for a two-on-one break. With a right-to-left pass, McNamee found a stretched out Welychka for a five-hole tap in that would beat a sprawled-out Millen and complete the Ravens' comeback.

He's the best playmaker in the league so I have to do my best to put those in for him," says Welychka, whose two points on the night pushes him to 21 on the season. "Fortunately, it worked out."

The 3-2 double-overtime final brings the Ravens to a 14-7-1 record and earns them sole possession of fourth place in the OUA East.

Source: Carleton Ravens

Brock tops Western 5-3

LONDON, ON - The Brock Men's Hockey team emerged victorious by a score of 5-3 against the Western Mustangs on Saturday Night at Thompson Arena.

Ray Huether opened the scoring just 15 seconds into the game, giving the Mustangs the early 1-0 lead.

Brock did not get on the board until 15:37 of the first period when Sammy Banga potted his 10th of the year on the power play, with assists going to Josh Timpano and Andrew Radjenovic.

Brock would add their 2nd of the game just a minute and 39 seconds later when Skylar Pacheco notched his 2nd of the campaign to give the Badgers the 2-1 lead.

Just 49 seconds later, Radjenovic buried his 7th of the season to give the Badgers a 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

Brock would get back into the scoring column just two minutes and 27 seconds into the 2nd period with Matt McLeod scoring his 8th goal of the campaign.

The Badgers would take a 5-1 lead later in the period with Radjenovic scoring his second of the game and 8th of the season with assists going to Brody Silk and Chris Maniccia.

Western would add goals from Spenser Cobbold and Andrew Goldberg to conclude scoring in the game with the Badgers on top 5-3.

Ray Huether finished with 1 goal and 2 assists for the Mustangs. Radjenovic led the Badgers in scoring with 2 goals and 1 assist. Banga (1 G, 1 A) and Silk (0 G, 2 A) also recorded multi-point games.

In goal, Clint Windsor recorded his 9th win of the season, stopping 19 of the 20 shots he faced on the night. Alex Brook-Potts also notched 16 saves on 18 shots in the victory.

For the Mustangs, the loss goes to Luke Peresinni who recorded 14 saves on 18 shots. Greg Dodds added 22 saves on 23 shots for Western in loss.

The Badgers next action will come against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) on January 20th at the Seymour-Hannah Centre. Game time is 7:15 pm.

Source: Brock Badgers

Lancers shut out Lions for first win of 2017

In a crucial OUA west division battle, the Lancer men's hockey team took on the visiting York Lions and came away with a 1-0 win at South Windsor Arena.
 
The win moves the Lancers (11-9-2) into a tie for third place in the standings, just two games behind the second place Lions (13-6-2).
 
The game was very back and forth that saw solid goaltending on both ends. Lancer forward Eric Palazzolo scored the game's long goal at 13:07 of the first to give Windsor an early lead that they lasted throughout regulation.
 
Goaltender Kris Joyce came up huge for the Lancers making many great saves to keep the game close and keep the Lancers in the lead. He finished the game with 37 saves, while York's Mack Shields made 22 saves in the loss.
 
The Lancers will return to action next week weekend as they travel to the GTA to take on the Toronto Varsity Blues and Ryerson Rams. The puck will drop at 7:30pm on both Friday and Saturday night and can be seen live on www.oua.tv.

Source: Windsor Lancers