MEN'S HOCKEY ROUNDUP: Western clinches first in the tight OUA West race

The victory over the Thunderwolves doubles the Mustangs lead over their division rivals, as Western now sits four points ahead of Lakehead with three games left for both teams on the regular season schedule.  

"I thought we played pretty well," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer after the game. "It was a good bounce back I thought after a couple of pretty dismal periods against Guelph last week. Lakehead's a good hockey team and they gave us everything they had."

"We're still in first now and hopefully we can maintain it," he added.

The first ten minutes of the first period ticked by without many whistles, as the team traded opportunities but never truly got close to scoring. The Mustangs held the definitive edge in zone time, cycling around the perimeter in the offensive end but falling victim to some nice blocking from Lakehead.

That defensive effort paid off later in the period, when a pair of Mustangs' infractions gave the Thunderwolves a chance to draw first blood. Lakehead wasted no time taking advantage, cashing in on the first penalty to David Corrente with a goal from Jake Carrick. The man advantage tally was a rarity for a Lakehead team that entered the game ranked second-last in the league in road power play percentage at just 13%.

The Mustangs wouldn't make the same mistake twice, however, shutting down the Thunderwolves' the second time around to kill off an interference call on Stephen Gaskin. When Western got an opportunity of their own with under three minutes left in the frame, the OUA's first-ranked power play made no mistake, getting on the board with a slap-shot from David Corrente.

It wouldn't take long for the Mustangs to get back on the board in the second, taking their first lead of the game just over a minute in with a goal from Steve Reese. They almost allowed Lakehead to get back in the game 20 seconds later though, when an interference penalty assessed to Alex Micallef put Western down for the third time in the contest.

But perhaps the best chance of that power play came off the stick of a Western player, not a Lakehead player. Matt Clarke tore up the ice on a shorthanded 2-on-1 and kept the puck, just barely missing on a shot to the short side. Goal or no goal, the penalty kill appeared to give the Mustangs energy, and after David Quesnele was assessed a penalty for closing his hand on the puck Western doubled their lead with a power play goal from Zach Harnden.

Refusing to be left out of the fun, Unice chimed into his team's strong second period effort with a huge pad save at the midpoint of the period, stretching out his leg to rob the Lakhead forward in tight on a 1-on-1. Despite his best efforts though, the Thunderwolves would get on the board in the period, cutting the Mustangs lead to one with a goal from Mike Hammond at 6:56.

Hammond picked up the puck in the slot and made a nice move to get Unice down, showing patience as he out-waited the Mustangs starter and slid the puck in on the far side. The tally, his ninth of the year, wasn't his only goal of the period either; just over four minutes later Hammond added his second of the game off a rebound, tying the game at three going into the second intermission.

Although the Mustangs only gave up one power play goal through the first 40 minutes, there's no doubt that they spent more time short handed than they would have liked with no less than 12 minutes spent down a man. In the second period, the three Western infractions contributed to Lakehead's game-high 17 shots in the frame.

Western had another strong start to the period in the third, highlighted by a goal from McKee 2:01 in to put the Mustangs back on top 4-3. McKee finished off a spectacular passing play from Daniel Erlich and Micallef with a tip-in for his third of the year, getting the 345 fans in attendance back to being loud after a rough end to the second had them quiet.

Erlich finished with three points on the night, giving him a CIS-leading 46 points on the year. But when asked about what it means to have the sophomore star leading the country in points, Singer was quick to point out that hockey is a team game.

"No consequence here, we're not concerned about that," Singer responded. "The only points we're worried about are the team ones and we've got a lot of great individual players on this team—Daniel's one of them—and they all help us with those team points."

Pressed further, Singer wasn't prepared to soften his stance.

"Like I say it's more about a team thing I think generally and he's obviously been a big part of what we do," Singer reiterated. "[We had] a couple more power play goals tonight—he's leading that for us—and he's playing great—he's obviously playing great—we've just got to keep grinding away."

With both teams playing hard in the second half of the final frame things got rough, culminating in a series of penalties being handed out 17:13 in. In the aftermath of a delayed penalty to Harnden for hooking, De Coste received a five minute major for charging while Lakehead's Carson Dubchak earned himself two minors and a 10-minute misconduct for going after De Coste after the whistle.

"It's funny I didn't see the Harnden penalty behind the net so I turned to [assistant coach] David Kontzie to ask what happened and then apparently the situation happened with Kyle [De Coste]," Singer said after the game. "I've got to go check that out and see what the situation is.

The teams played 4-on-4 until Dubchak's minor expired and the Thunderwolves found themselves back at full strength. But despite having the extra man and controlling the puck in Western's zone Lakehead was unable to capitalize, and the Mustangs squeezed out the win for their eighth straight game earning a point.

Next up, the Mustangs will turn their attention to Saturday night's matchup against York. That game kicks off at 7:00 p.m. at Thompson Arena and sees Western take on a Lions team that was shutout 3-0 against Toronto on Friday night.

Source: Western Sports Info



UQTR 3 @ Carleton 5

It was the game that had been in the works for the last couple of weeks.

The script for Friday night’s game could not have been written any better or with more drama.

The stage was set as No. 7 Carleton Ravens, winners of their previous nine games up against one of their most bitter rivals, the No. 5 U.Q.T.R. Patriotes, who came into the “big” contest riding an impressive 19-1 record in their last twenty outings.

Something had to give between these OUA East division heavyweights with the Ravens getting the decision with a hard fought 5-3 victory.

“They (UQTR) have been the hottest team in the OUA, we (Carleton) knew we had to be ready to go right from the start,” explained Marty Johnston, Ravens head coach.

“I thought we had a great start and took the lead but then penalties took over. But credit our penalty killers, they were excellent and were the story of the game.”

With Carleton up 3-1 midway through the second period Corey Durocher (Ottawa, ON) was assessed a five minute major and game misconduct for kneeing which could have cost the Ravens.

But the Ravens stood tall and killed it off and went on to score the game’s next goal to make it 4-1.

The second period ended with the score 4-2 for Carleton.

Each team scored once in the final frame to make it a 5-3 final.

Before Durocher’s ejection he was able to score once and add an assist for the Ravens. Joe Pleckaitis (Ottawa, ON) also had a one goal, one assist game.

Other Carleton scorers included Damian Cross (Nepean, ON), Jeff Hayes (Ottawa, ON) and Tyler Taylor (Kitchener, ON).

“I had been struggling, offensively the last few games so it was nice to contribute,” said Hayes.

“We worked hard all week at practice preparing to play our top rival so it felt nice to get a win like that over them.”

Carleton outshot UQTR 31-27. Ravens net-minder Francis Dupuis was solid once again stopping 24 of 27 Patriotes shots.

Both teams finished the night 1-5 on the power play.

Carleton (19-5-1) has now won ten straight games and occupy third place in the OUA East division.

But this is where it gets interesting.

McGill (20-5-2) has 42 points but have played two more games than UQTR and Carleton.

UQTR (20-5-0) sit in second place with 40 points followed Carleton and 39 points.

The Ravens have three more game to play in the regular season.

They return to action on Saturday, February 8 in Sudbury when they take on the Laurentian Voyageurs (5-20-0). Game time is 7:30PM.

From there Carleton will play at RMC on Wednesday, February 12 before closing out the regular season with a home game against Laurentian on Saturday, February 15

Source: Carleton Sports Info



Concordia 3 @ Ottawa 4 (SO)

Ottawa was able to pull out a well-deserved 4-3 shootout victory over the Concordia Stingers on Friday night in Ottawa, despite playing the game shorthanded with only 15 skaters and two goalies, missing their two top scorers Stephen Blunden and Alexandre Touchette.

“We keep working hard, we know we have lots of good players missing, but we have a team that has a lot of character and determination,” said acting Ottawa captain Matt White.

Ottawa’s victory was marked by the team’s ability to not only fight adversity and a shortened bench, but the ability to fight to the end. “We played a pretty good second and third period, this was a good game because the players had to play roles that they’re not used to and the players played for each other.

This type of game is one that shows our depth as well as our readiness for the playoffs,” commented Gee-Gees head coach Réal Paiement.

The first period was one that saw both teams come out for a hard fought, back and forth tussle. After missing golden opportunities early in the period, it was a bad giveaway in the Gee-Gees offensive zone that led to Concordia opening the scoring at the 6:46 mark. Hugo Vincent scored the goal with George Lovatsis picking up the assist off the giveaway. Ottawa would try to fight back but the latter half of the period saw Ottawa take a couple of penalties. However, Concordia could not capitalize and despite the 1-0 score Ottawa outshot the Stingers 14-9.

Ottawa used the momentum from a couple of killed penalties late in the first period to propel themselves onto the score board when a Gabriel Vermette slap shot found the top corner at the 1:32 mark of the second period with the assists going to Matt White and Patrick Burns. Ottawa was showing no effect of being short-benched as they fought every battle possible for puck possession, but it was Concordia that would take its second lead of the game at 8:04 when Vincent scored his second goal of the game with assists going to Dany Portvin and Lovatsis. Ottawa would eventually tie it up once again when Mathieu Ouellette scored 13:46 into the period with the assists going to Rock Regimbald and Matthieu Tanguay-Theriault.

Concordia would open its third lead of the game when they struck 6:39 into the third period with Kyle Armstrong lighting the lamp and Olivier Hinse and Ben Dubois picking up the assists. Concordia’s lead would last for most of the period until with under 30 seconds left, the net empty and on a powerplay Andrew Creppin scored the late equilizer at the 19:33 mark with Regimbald and Mathieu Gertin getting the helpers.

Overtime solved nothing, so both teams headed to the shootout where Concordia’s Vincent shot first and missed, followed by a goal by Tanguay-Theriault. The second round of shooters saw Lovastis score and Regimbald miss. When Robin Billingham stopped Concordia’s third shooter, Hinse, it was all on the shoulders of Ouellette and he didn’t disappoint as he scored the winner in the shootout giving Ottawa the extra point.  

Source: uOttawa Sports Info



UOIT 2 @ McGill 9

MONTREAL -- Patrick Delisle-Houde of Quebec City registered a hat-trick as was one of three McGill players to score five points as the No.6-ranked Redmen waltzed to a convincing 9-2 over the visiting University of Ontario Institute of Technology at McConnell Arena, Friday.

McGill, which improved to 6-0 lifetime against UOIT, now owns a 20-5-2 regular season record with one game left to play. They are back into sole possession of first-place in the topsy-turvy OUA East, two points ahead of UQTR (20-5-0).and three ahead of Carleton (19-5-1). It marks the sixth time in McGill history that the Redmen have reached the 20-win plateau in regular season play and the fifth time for head coach Kelly Nobes, who also accomplished the feat twice when he was coaching the Laurier Golden Hawks.

"We were opportunistic tonight as our power-play was clicking right from the start," said Nobes, who owns a 113-45-4 record in four seasons behind the McGill bench. "I think that we did a did a good job of getting to the front of their net, scoring goals in the blue paint.

"Delisle-Houde got all three of his goals standing with his heels on the crease, tipping-in pucks and putting in rebounds. Those are always good goals to get. 'PDH' is one of our hardest working guys in both practice and games. He does all the little things and has been a key part of our success."

Delisle-Houde, a physical education sophomore, is third on the team in scoring with 29 points, including a dozen goals, in 27 games.

Cedric McNicoll and David Rose, both natives of Longueuil, Que., also racked up five point-performances -- a personal best for all three linemates -- with McNicoll connecting twice and Rose once.

McNicoll, a red-shirted sophomore who enrolled at McGill last year after a three-year stint in the American Hockey League, has finally wrestled away the team's scoring lead from defenceman Ryan McKiernan with 14 goals and 32 points in only 22 games., McKiernan, an import from White Plains, N.Y., who collected one assist and now owns as many points at McNicoll but fewer goals, continues to lead all CIS blueliners with a 12-20-32 record in 27 contests, four points ahead of his nearest competitor.

McGill jumped into a 6-0 lead over UOIT, with a pair in the first period and four more in the middle stanza, before Luke VanMoerkerke of Tillsonburg, Ont., replied twice for the Ridgebacks to make it 6-2 after two. The Redmen added three in the final session.

Closing out the scoring for the home side was team captain Benoit Levesque (4th) of Vaudreuil, Que., freshman Alexandre Comtois (7th) of Sherbrooke, Que., and rookie rearguard Samuel Carrier (7th) of Varennes, Que.

McGill, which held a 33-32 margin in shots, went 3-for-5 on the power-play and killed off all three shorthanded situations.

Rookie Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, also from Sherbrooke, made 30 saves for the win between the pipes for McGill, improving his record to 12-4-0. UOIT used two netminders, with starter Colin Dzijacky taking the loss. he was beaten four times on 16 shots, before being replaced at the 4:58 mark of the second period by Jacob Rattie, who conceded five goals on 17 shots.

McGill, which clinched at least third place, can finish anywhere from first to third in the 10-team OUA East, They will close out the regular season next week, with their fourth straight home game when they host the Nipissing University Lakers (5-16-3) from North Bay, Ont., on Valentine's Day.

UOIT, which hails from Oshawa, Ont., sits seventh with a 7-15-4 record, plays at Concordia (8-13-4) on Saturday in a battle for sixth place. The top eight teams qualify for post-season play, which is slated to begin on Feb 19.

Source: McGill Sports Info



York 0 @ Toronto 3

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team shut out the York Lions 3-0 on Friday, February 7 at Varsity Arena.

The win, U of T's second straight shutout victory, catapults the Blues (13-10-2) into a three-way tie for fifth place with the Guelph Gryphons (12-10-4) and Lions (13-9-2).

The Blues opened the scoring midway through the first period as team captain Blake Boddy (Scarborough) sent a cross-crease pass to Jeff Brown (Toronto) who made no mistake in finding the back of the net. U of T led 1-0 after 20 minutes of action.

Rookie forward Russell Turner (Jasper, Alta.) notched an insurance marker, his second goal of the season, as he received a behind the back pass from fellow first-year forward Dean Klomp and wired it in with 2:52 remaining in the game.

Klomp added an empty-netter in the final minute as the Blues skated away with the 3-0 win.

Third-year goalie Brett Willows (Rivers, Man.) posted 32 saves in his second shut out win of the season.

Source: Toronto Sports Info



Brock 2 @ Waterloo 4

The Waterloo Warriors were in desperate need of a lift. Their captain came back just in time to give them one.

Joe Underwood (Canton) had a goal and an assist in his return from injury, and the potent Waterloo power play cashed twice in a span of 1:47 as the Warriors topped the Brock Badgers 4-2 at the Columbia Icefield Arena on Friday night.

Colin Behenna (Waterloo) added a goal and assist of his own, and Justin Larson (Buckhorn) pitched in with a pair of assists as Waterloo (11-11-3) pulled to within two points of Brock for the OUA West's eighth and final playoff spot. The crammed standings feature a total of five teams within three points of one another, with only three games remaining.

The Badgers (12-10-3) got goals from Dylan MacEachern and Andrew Radjenovic in the loss. Justin Leclerc (Saskatoon) made 30 saves in the win between the pipes for Waterloo, while Real Cormier kicked aside 33 shots in the loss for the Badgers.

After a scoreless first period, the Badgers got on the board early in the second when MacEachern beat Leclerc less than five minutes into the frame. Waterloo's Josh Woolley(Cambridge) tied things up moments later, before The Badgers found penalty trouble late in the period - trouble which would prove to be the turning point of the game.

With less than five minutes to play in the middle stanza, Brock's Kaine Geldart took a four-minute spearing penalty, followed just a minute later by a Josh Schram hooking call. Underwood wasted no time with the two-man advantage, scoring just four seconds into the 5-on-3 to go up 2-1. On the second half of the Geldart double-minor, Behenna added another power play marker to put Waterloo up 3-1 after forty minutes.

The Badgers pushed back in the third and drew to within one when Radjenovic put one past Leclerc with just over three minutes to play. But Jarred Parent (West Montrose)salted the game away with and empty-netter to make the final 4-2 Waterloo.

The Warriors will now turn their attention to yet another huge game, when they face 7th-place Guelph on Saturday night. Puck drop is slated for 6:30 PM at the Columbia Icefield Arena.

Source: Waterloo Sports Info



Nipissing 6 @ Laurentian 1

The Laurentian Voyageurs Men’s hockey team was playing against the Nipissing Lakers on Friday night at the Countryside Arena. It was an important game for the Voyageurs because a win would help them in the race to secure a spot in the playoffs. Despite the excitement leading up to the game, the men were unable to secure the win. The Lakers took control of the game early on and held the lead until the end, beating the Voyageurs 6-1.

Coming into the game the Lakers took control early on. Brogan Bailey (Lunenburg, NS) opened the scoring 5 minutes into the first, as he put one past Voyageur goaltender Alain Valiquette (Sudbury, ON). The Lakers would follow up with another goal soon after when third year Dane Horvat (Milton,ON) scored a powerplay goal, putting his team up 2-0 on the Voyageurs to end the first period.

The Voyageurs were unable to find their footing in the second, and the Lakers continued to add to their tally of goals. The visiting team would put another 2 in the back of the net before Valiquette was replaced with Charlie Millen (Bridgenorth, ON). The Lakers would get another before the end of the period, making it 5-0 in their favour heading into the third intermission.

The third period was stronger for the Voyageurs. The men matched the Lakers shot for shot, and only allowed a single goal in the period. Vincent Llorka scored his fifth of the season, putting Laurentian on the board at the midway point in the third. Unfortunately the Voyageurs were unable to catch the Lakers, falling 1-6 after three periods of play.

The game would end 6-1 in favour of the Nipissing Lakers, with the shots also in their favour at 42-37. Valiquette made 24 saves out of 28 shots, while Millen stopped 14 of the 12 that were thrown his way.

Source: Laurentian Sports Info



Saturday, February 8

UOIT 2 @ Concordia 4

MONTREAL – The playoff bound UOIT men’s hockey team dropped a 4-2 decision to the Concordia Stingers on Saturday afternoon.

Looking for the game-tying goal with their goaltender pulled in the final minutes of the game, the Ridgebacks were unable to light the lamp and Concordia would put the game on ice with George Lovatsis scoring an empty net goal.

The Ridgebacks would have a number of scoring opportunities over the final 20 minutes of the game, but they were unable to beat Concordia goaltender Antonio Mastropietro one final time as he earned his ninth win of the season.

Ryan Zupancic (Whitby, Ont.) scored his first goal of the season for UOIT, with Cameron Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) and Luke VanMoerkerke (Tillsonburg, Ont.) picking up assists on the play. Matt Paul (Penetang, Ont.) recorded the Ridgebacks other goal, which was the fifth of his freshman campaign.

After allowing four goals on 16 shots against the No. 6 ranked McGill Redmen on Friday night, Colin Dzijacky (Thunder Bay, Ont.) had a solid outing in net against Concordia as he made 39 saves, bringing his save percentage to an even 900. Dzijacky has made 690 saves this season which is the second highest total in the country.

The Ridgebacks (7-16-4) are now one point ahead of Nipissing (7-16-3) for seventh place in the OUA eastern conference standings. The Lakers have one game in hand heading into the final weekend of conference play.

UOIT will close out the regular season on the road as they head to Waterloo to take on the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday, February 15. Laurier has struggled this season as they sit in last place and out of the playoffs in the OUA western conference with a 9-14-2 record.

Source: UOIT Sports Info



Guelph 1 @ Waterloo 4

In the biggest game of the season for the Waterloo Warriors, Colin Behenna (Waterloo) took it upon himself to ensure his team earned a valuable two points.

Behenna scored a highlight reel first-period goal - the eventual game-winner - and added an assist as the Warriors beat the Guelph Gryphons 4-1 at the Columbia Icefield Arena on Saturday night.

Matt Amadio (Sault Ste. Marie), Justin Larson (Buckhorn), and Luke Lynes (Washington) added goals for the Warriors (12-11-3), who pull to within one point of a quartet of clubs for the OUA West's eighth and final playoff spot. Among those four teams are the Gryphons (12-11-4), who got a goal from Nick Huard in the loss.

Justin Leclerc (Saskatoon) was spectacular at times in the Warriors cage, making 33 saves for the win. Guelph keeper Keith Hamilton took the loss, turning aside 29 shots.

The Warriors looked strong in the game's opening minutes, but they found themselves in penalty trouble as the frame wore on. Shortly after Waterloo's third consecutive minor, Huard found Leclerc's five-hole to make it 1-0 Guelph.

The Warriors bounced back quickly, albeit not conventionally. Hamilton gave the puck away to Amadio after a Waterloo dump-in, and, with his mates on a change, Amadio just tossed the puck to the goal mouth. It deflected in off a Gryphon and into the open net before Hamilton could return to position, making it 1-1 late in the first.

Just moments before the period ended, Behenna struck when he took a Ryan Hanes (Kanata) feed in the neutral zone and dangled around the Gryphons defence, before zipping a backhand in short side to make it 2-1 after one period.

Tempers rose in the second period, as each whistle seemed to bring with it a skirmish afterwards. The Warriors continued to apply pressure, and it paid off when Larson squeaked a wrister between Hamilton's arm and body to make it 3-1 for the hosts.

Less than two minutes later, Lynes scored a beauty of his own when he took a Kain Allicock (Markham) feed in front, spun, and burried a goal while on his back to put the Warriors up 4-1 after forty minutes.

The third period brought much the same physicality and animosity that the previous two featured, but neither team could find the back of the net.

The Warriors will now prepare for their road trip north to Thunder Bay to take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves in the last two games of the regular season. Pick drop for games on next Friday and Saturday are both slated for 7:30pm.

Source: Waterloo Sports Info



York 1 @ Western 3

LONDON, Ont.–Josh Unice stopped 30 shots for his ninth win in a row and Matt Clarke scored the eventual game-winner with 2:32 left in the second to lead the Mustangs to an exciting 3-1 victory over the York Lions at Thompson Arena on Saturday night.

The win—Western's second in as many nights—ensures that the Mustangs will finish first in the OUA West and comes in the second game of a tough back-to-back. After the game, Singer said he was happy to get the win and secure first but admitted that the schedule appeared to take its toll on his team.

"Good to get four points this weekend, that's for sure," Singer said. "York gave us some trouble today—I thought we had some trouble getting the puck out of the zone and we just didn't seem to have quite as much jump and energy tonight as we did last night."

"Give credit to our guys—I don't think we were at our best but they worked very, very hard and found a way to win a bit of an ugly one."

Looking for a strong start to the game after returning to the ice less than 24 hours after their 4-3 win over Lakehead, the Mustangs didn't exactly get the start they wanted, finding themselves down a man less than two minutes in thanks to a hooking call to Steve Reese. But Unice made sure that Western wouldn't have to pay for their early mistake, making a number of big stops in close on the penalty kill to keep York off the board.

York was able to accomplish a similar feat later in the period, shutting down the OUA's number one power play on a minute-long 5-on-3. The Lions were rewarded for their big kill with an immediate power play but found themselves unable to capitalize again.

With 22 penalty minutes handed out between the two teams in the first frame alone, one might have expected that any goals would have come with the man advantage. Instead, the opposite was the case, with the Mustangs scoring two at five on five and York adding one of their own to send the two teams into the intermission at 2-1.

Western was first to strike on the night as Julian Cimadamore scored his first of the year 13 minutes in. York was quick to respond, however, getting a goal from Chad Hohmann three minutes later. Hohmann cleaned up a rebound in front of the Mustangs net for his third goal of the year.

Matt Clarke undid Hohmann's work just under a minute later, taking a nice breakaway pass from Adam Stoykewych and making no mistake, sliding the puck through the legs of the Lions' netminder. Clarke's goal—his 14th of the year—also saw Daniel Erlich register an assist, increasing his CIS-leading point total to 47 on the year.

Western came out strong in the second, with a big hit from David Corrente highlighting a number of nice plays to start to period. York goaltender Andrew Perugini responded with some strong play of his own, robbing a Western player with a stellar glove save less than three minutes into the frame.

The teams each found themselves short-handed twice in the period but once again they were unable to get anything going on the man-advantage. That theme continued through to the end of the game, as neither team was able to use capitalize on the power play.

"I thought our penalty kill did a real nice job tonight for us and came up big just like last night late in the game," Singer said post-game. "Power play struggled a little bit—I think York gave us a bit more pressure both on the forecheck and in zone then maybe we're used to."

"But our power play has been outstanding for us all year and especially the second half—they've done a great job. A bit of an off game but gives us a chance to get back and look at some film hopefully improve for our game Thursday."

Despite the lack of power play production, the Mustangs did use the opportunity to showcase their ability to score 5-on-5. In the third, Zach Harnden did just that, taking a feed from Reese down low and beating Perugini to put the Mustangs up by two.

The Lions looked like they did the same, finding the twine around the mid-way point of the third, but the goal was called back thanks to a slashing call to Jesse Messier—his second infraction of the game. Although the Mustangs didn't capitalize on the ensuing power play, that play would come back to haunt York as Unice refused to let another puck past him for the rest of the game.

Shutting down the Lions' offence wasn't any easy task though, as Unice was forced to make a number of nice saves in tight to keep his team on top. York controlled play in the Mustangs zone for the majority of the frame, firing 14 shots in total at the Mustangs netminder in the final frame to no avail.

Heading into the final week of the season, the Mustangs will travel to York on Thursday for a game at Canlan Ice Sports at 7:00 p.m. before returning home for a game on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. against Brock. After the game, Singer was asked what his team is hoping to improve before OUA playoffs role around.

"Lots of little things," Singer responded. "The core of our improvement here in the second half has been our special teams and our defensive play—especially our defensive zone coverage so we'll put some emphasis on that."

"I thought York did a nice job tonight against us on faceoffs so we're gonna have to tidy up some of our d-zone faceoff plays. Just little things like that as we head into the final weekend," he added.

Source: Western Sports Info



RMC 0 @ Nipissing 7

Two impressive victories could not have come at a better time for the Nipissing Lakers men’s hockey team, as the Lakers clinched a spot in the OUA playoffs.

The Lakers got great goaltending, balanced offence and played stingy defence on the way to beating the Laurentian Voyageurs 6-1 Friday night on the road and shutting out the RMC Paladins 7-0 Saturday at home.

Friday night, the Lakers picked up a huge win today over Laurentian thanks to a complete team effort.

Brogan Bailey, Dane Horvat, Marcus Watson with two, Lucas McKinley and Mitch McNeill scored and Kirk Rafuse, who put together what head coach Mike McParland said was “Kirk’s best game this year,” was only beaten once.

On Saturday, it was a similar story.

Rafuse earned his first shutout of the season making 27 saves and the Lakers had seven different goal scorers en route to a lopsided victory that clinched the Lakers a playoff position.

Watson got the ball rolling with a goal just over a minute into the game and the Lakers never looked back, as they outshot the Paladins 46-27 and outscored them 7-0.

McKinley, Kevin Rebelo, Brodie Barron, Brandon Warmington, Craig Campbell and Conor O’Donnell all found the back of the net as well.

Watson, O’Donnell, McKinley, Rebelo, Grant Toulmin and Andrew Marcoux also had multi-point games to pace the Lakers to their biggest win of the season.

The Lakers are currently in eighth place, but sit just one point behind the UOIT Ridgebacks and have a game in hand, so a seventh place finish isn’t out of the question.

Regardless of whether they catch the Ridgebacks or not, the Lakers are playoff bound and will get one final tune-up as they head to Quebec to take on the McGill Redmen and UQTR Patriotes next weekend to close out the regular season.

The Lakers face McGill Friday night and UQTR Saturday.

Source: Nipissing Sports Info



Lakehead 3 @ Brock 6

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University men's hockey team (13-10-3 OUA West) scored three third period goals to defeat the Lakehead Thunderwolves by the score of 6-3 at the Seymour-Hannah Centre Saturday night.

Brock opened the scoring 4:58 into the opening period as Kaine Geldart(Kingston, Ont.) setup rookie Sammy Banga (Windsor, Ont.) for his fifth goal of the season.

Lakehead tied the game 1-1 less than a minute later as Adam Restoule beat Brock rookie goaltender Real Cormier (Trenton, Ont.) for his third of the year. The Thunderwolves would take a 2-1 lead with 4:12 remaining in the first period on a goal from Mike Quesnele.

The Badgers Matt Abercrombie (Sarnia, Ont.) tied the game 2-2 just 2:20 into the second period as he buried home a pass from sophomore Andrew Radjenovic (Hamilton, Ont.) for his team leading 16th goal of the season.

The Thunderwolves regained the one goal lead at 6:16 as Luke Maw beat Cormier for his fourth goal of the campaign.

At the 12:02 mark of the second, Brock tied the game 3-3 as senior Anthony Geldart (Kingston, Ont.) and freshman Ryan Purvis (Orillia, Ont.) setup freshman Jeff MacPherson (Bradford, Ont.) for just his second of the year.

In the third period, Brock answered with three straight goals including back-to-back goals from Radjenovic at 5:03 on the powerplay and at 6:55 even strength to take a 5-3 lead. On the power play marker Daniel Tanel (Brampton, Ont.) and Abercrmobie collected the assists.

Brock's Geldart added an empty netter at 18:44 to secure the home victory. Abercrmbie added the lone assist.

In goal, Cormier picked up his third victory in four starts registering 32 saves. Lakehead's Justin McDonald suffered the loss allowing five goals on 37 shots.

Source: Brock Sports Info



Laurier 2 @ Ryerson 3

TORONTO — For a third straight season, the Ryerson Rams men’s hockey team are heading to the playoffs.

The Rams clinched a spot by defeating the Laurier Golden Hawks, 3-2 on Saturday evening at the Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens.

“That’s huge,” Mark Corbett, a Rams defenceman said post-game. "The standings are incredibly tight and we needed a big win to clinch the playoffs and I think it takes a little bit of stress off of us.”

Ryerson (16-10-0) got the scoring started at 6:47 of the first period when Victor Terreri banged home his seventh of the season.

The score would remain 1-0 until just a minute into the second period whenJamie Wise scored his 21st goal of the year to extend the lead to 2-0. Domenic Alberga and Michael Fine picked up assists on the play. Wise and Alberga sit tied for second in the CIS in scoring with 45 points each.

Laurier (9-15-2) would answer back a few minutes later on the powerplay when Joe Vanni notched his third of the season.

Due to injuries, Laurier only dressed 12 skaters on Saturday night.

Mitch Gallant would re-direct a shot from the point half-way through the third period to cap off a solid individual performance to put Ryerson back up by two.

With under a minute remaining in the third, Laurier refused to go down without a fight. Brent Vandenberg scored his third of the season and it was 3-2.

Despite a Laurier timeout, they could not muster a comeback to equalize the game.

Troy Passingham made 19 saves to earn his 10th win of the year.

Duncan Long was solid all night for Laurier despite giving up three goals on 33 shots and suffering the loss.

“I thought we were pretty average,” Johnny Duco, Ryerson’s assistant coach said. “We found a way to battle it out and get the two points and at this point we’ll take anything.”

With the win, Ryerson snapped a three game losing streak and now sit tied for third in the OUA West with 32 points.

“I think we just tried to be a little bit more relaxed,” Corbett said on what his team did differently. “Just trying to have fun out there, we’ve been a little bit down on ourselves and we only had one game this week so we had five practices to get ready for it and hopefully this turns the tides.”

Ryerson now has two games remaining on their regular season schedule and resume OUA action on Wednesday, Feb. 12 when they host the Toronto Varsity Blues at 11:30 a.m.

Source: Ryerson Sports Info



Toronto 1 @ Windsor 5

WINDSOR, Ont.- The Windsor Lancers men's hockey team remains tied for third-place in the OUA West division playoff race after recording a 5-1 triumph over the visiting Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday evening at South Windsor Arena on Senior's Night where the Lancers honoured graduating seniors Derek Lanoue and Evan Stibbard for their contribution to the men's hockey program.

The Lancers (16-10-0) have won three of their last four and five of their past seven games after starting the New Year with three-straight losses, and are tied with Ryerson (16-10-0) while being just a single point behind the Lakehead Thunderwolves (15-8-3) for second-place in the division. Western has already clinched first place in the West with 39 points heading into the final week of conference play. The Varsity Blues (13-11-2) drop into a three-way tie for sixth-place in the division, and are just one point ahead of Waterloo who is currently on the outside looking in on the playoff picture.

After a scoreless first period, the Lancers exploded for three goals on Hats on for Healthcare Night at South Windsor Arena. Blake Blondeel, captain Drew Palmer andSpencer Pommells all scored within a two-minute and 53 second span to stun the Blues and chase Toronto goalkeeper Brett Willows from goal after allowing three goals on 21 shots.

The contest settled soon after, as the Varsity Blues were able to temporarily stem the Lancers offensive tide for the rest of the middle stanza. Derek Lanoue celebrated Senior's Night by notching his sixth goal of the season to open the third-period scoring for Windsor after Toronto broke Parker Van Buskirk's shutout bid minutes earlier.Kenny Bradford rounded out the offence for Windsor, tallying his ninth of the year on the power-play.

Van Buskirk made 36 saves to earn his 15th victory of the season. Windsor was 1-for-2 on special teams, while the Varsity Blues were 0-for-2.

Windsor will conclude their regular season on the road next weekend, travelling to the provincial capital to face the York Lions and Ryerson Rams on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Source: Windsor Sports Info



Carleton 4 @ Laurentian 0

The Laurentian Men’s Hockey team looked to break their 8 game losing streak Saturday night as they took on Carleton for the first time this season The score didn’t end in the Voyageurs favour as Carleton extended their win streak to 11 games after taking the game 4-0.

Carleton opened up the scoring at 5:24 of the first period, after killing off a Mitch Porowski roughing penalty. Carleton’s Damian Cross got his 15th goal on the season, finishing a 2-on-1 play to open the scoring, assists going to Michael McNamee and Joe Pleckaitis. Carleton put on the pressure, but couldn’t put another one past Laurentian goalie Alain Valiquette, finishing the period up 1-0 after outshooting the Voyageurs 13-3.

Carleton continued the pressure in the second period, leading to multiple power play chances, but Laurentian killed off a 5-on-3, shortly followed by a too many men penalty before Carleton extended their lead to 2, minutes after the penalty expired. Porowski got the unassisted tally for Carleton after a shot from the hash marks ended up past Valiqeutte at 11:47 of the second. The period ended with shots 30-10 in favour of Carleton.

Carleton scored 2 goals in the final period to finish the game 4-0 in their favour. Jeff Hayes got his 9th goal of the season at 4:08 into the period to put them up by 3, after burying a rebound, with assists to Corey Durocher and Jason Seed. The final goal came with 55 seconds left in the game, after Valiquette was pulled for the 6th skater while Laurentian was on the power play.  Linden Bahm put up the final tally for his 8th of the season, assisted by Jordan Deagle and Joey West. Carleton goaltender Ryan Dube made 16 saves to earn his 1st shutout of the season. Valiquette finished the game with 35 saves on 38 shots.

Source: Laurentian Sports Info



UQTR 2 @ Queen’s 4

KINGSTON, Ont. (February 8, 2014) - The Queen's Gaels (17-5-5) upset the No. 5 UQTR Patriotes 4-2 on Saturday night in Kingston at the Memorial Centre.

With the win the Gaels have tied their franchise record for wins in a season with 17. The Gaels last won 17 in the 1979-80 season where the team finished 17-3-2 under head coach Fred O'Donnell.

Patrick McGillis (Calgary) opened the scoring for Queen's with his 10th of the season only 3:59 into the first period. Queen's assists on the goal came from Jordan Soquila(Maple Ridge, B.C.) and Joey Derochie (Sudbury, Ont.).

UQTR tested Gaels starting netminder Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) early and often with 11 shots in the period. Bailie turned them all aside to keep the Gaels ahead 1-0 after 20 minutes.

In the second the UQTR offence came alive. Marc-Olivier Mimar tallied twice for the Patriotes in the period with his eighth and ninth goals of the season coming within four minutes of one another. The Patriotes got themselves into penalty trouble late in the frame however, as Tommy Tremblay was given a two minute minor for roughing and a 10 minute misconduct.

Opening the third period with the man-advantage, Corey Bureau (Amherstview, Ont.) finished off his seventh of the seeason at 1:12 to even the game at 2-2. The Patriotes were called for another penalty shortly after and McGillis then took advantage on the power play giving the Gaels the 3-2 lead on his second of the game.

From there on Bailie shut the door and turned aside all eight UQTR shots in the third period. Kelly Jackson (Toronto) potted an empty-netter to seal the win for Queen's 4-2.

The Gaels will have a chance to set a new all-time wins record next Friday when they travel to Trois Rivieres for a rematch with the Patriotes.

Source: Queen's Sports Info