AROUND OUA: Ridgebacks come from behind to defeat Lakers
NORTH BAY, Ont. – After opening the scoring – the UOIT men's hockey team had to come from behind in order to pick up an important two points over the Nipissing Lakers on Sunday night.
SCOREBOARD
UOIT 4 @ Nipissing 3
Laurentian 0 @ Ottawa 5
Guelph 5 @ Toronto 2
Ridgebacks come from behind to defeat Lakers
NORTH BAY, Ont. – After opening the scoring – the UOIT men's hockey team had to come from behind in order to pick up an important two points over the Nipissing Lakers on Sunday night.
Danny Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) scored the first goal of the game for the Ridgebacks, with an assist by Cameron Yuill (Wellington, Ont.), at the 10-minute mark of the first. The score remained 1-0 UOIT after one period, despite being outshot 10-7.
In the second period Colin Campbell tied the game with the ice still wet, just 1:57 in.
He had the Ridgebacks number, scoring his second of the game – this time shorthanded – just under seven minutes later to give Nipissing a 2-1 lead.
UOIT's Ryan Doucette (Waterloo, Ont.) evened the game up again, scoring his eighth of the season on the power play with 2:15 to go in the. Jason Shaw (Ameliasburg, Ont.) and Elser earned up the helpers.
Before the end of the first 40 minutes of play though, Jimmy McDowell wouldn't let the tie stand, scoring just 12 seconds after Doucette's goal to regain the Lakers one-goal lead heading into the final period.
In the third special teams remained huge for the Ridgebacks as Mike Robinson (Stouffville, Ont.) scored his 10th goal of the season on the power play at the 5:45 mark of the third to tie the game again for UOIT.
Defencemen Jeff Braithwaite (Ennismore, Ont.) and Jake Logan (Napanee, Ont.) had assists on the equalizer.
Braithwaite was on the scoresheet again 10 minutes later as he scored the eventual game-winning goal unassisted.
UOIT was 2-for-5 on the power play, while Nipissing finished 0-for-6. Shots also favoured the Ridgebacks, who outshot the Lakers 32-27.
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) made 24 saves in his sixth win of the season. His counterpart, Talor Joseph made 28 saves at the opposite end of the ice in the loss for Nipissing.
UOIT now continues their longest stretch of road games this season – five – as they head to St. Catharines on Friday to face the Brock Badgers. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
With Sunday's victory, the Ridgebacks are two points back of Carleton for fourth in the OUA east and one back of UQTR for fifth.
Source: UOIT Ridgebacks
Gee-Gees charge past Vees, remaing perfect in 2017
The University of Ottawa men's hockey team completed the perfect sweep of its three-in-three homestand with a 5-0 victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs at the Minto Sports Complex on Sunday.
Four different players found the scoresheet for the Gee-Gees (11-7-3), who limited the Voyageurs to a handful of quality of chances over the entire game.
"We stepped it up (in the final 40), took care of our own end and that gave us a lot of chances," explained head coach Patrick Grandmaître. "It was an all-around good effort in all three games this weekend."
uOttawa began strongly, outshooting the visitors 15-9 in the opening frame, but Laurentian goaltender Joel Vienneau proved up to the task with a number of great saves.
Gee-Gees defenceman Adam Beveridge (Ottawa, Ont.) opened the scoring at 7:28 of the second period with an absolute cannon on a 5-on-3 powerplay. Jacob Hanlon (Mississauga, Ont.) doubled the uOttawa lead just 39 seconds later, capitalizing on a Vienneau puck-handling error for his fifth goal of the season.
Mathieu Dubois (Sherbrooke, Que.) extended the lead to three early in the third period, beating Vienneau with a beautiful breakaway shot. Cody Drover (Grand Falls-Windsor, Nfld.) put the game to bed just past the halfway mark of the final frame with a tidy finish from short range. Dubois added an empty-net goal late to round out the scoring.
"We didn't know what to expect out of our guys, playing three games in less than three nights," explained Coach Grandmaître, whose team's fitness levels exceeded even their own expectations on the weekend.
Graham Hunt (Concord, Mass.) made 36 saves for his first career shutout.
"It's fun as coaches when you can rely on both (goalies) and know night-in, night-out what to expect," continued Grandmaître. "It keeps guys confident defensively too; they know then help is there behind them."
The Gee-Gees will be back in action on home ice with a marquee matchup on Wednesday against the UQTR Patriotes (13-6-2) on Engineering Night at the Minto Sports Complex
Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees
Gryphons pick up road win over Varsity Blues
TORONTO, ON - Sunday afternoon in Toronto, the Gryphons men's hockey team picked up a 5-2 win over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The Gryphons have now won seven of their last eight and improve to 12-8-0 on the season, moving them into a temporary tie for third in the crowded OUA West Division standings. The Varsity Blues sit last in those standings and are now 2-17-2 on the season.
Meeting for the second time in four days, the Gryphons were looking to build upon their Thursday night victory over U of T and secure another valuable two points in the standings with just eight games remaining on the regular season schedule. In Thursday night's game, the Gryphons had to overcome a slow start. On Sunday afternoon, the Gryphs made sure to start fast. Just 2:21 into the opening period, Guelph was able to open the scoring when third year defenceman Mark Raycroft scored his fifth of the season. For Raycroft, who also scored against U of T on Thursday, the goal was his third in his last four games.
After U of T tied the game at 1-1, the Gryphons would start the 2nd period the same way they started the 1st, with an early goal. This time, it was third year centre Michael Stevens scoring a short-handed marker to put the Gryphs up 2-1 just over two minutes into the 2nd period. The U of G special teams would come through again midway through the period, with Thursday's hat-trick hero Trevor Morbeck scoring an unassisted power play goal to extend the lead to 3-1. Morbeck's 10th goal of the season would ultimately prove to be the winner.
The Varsity Blues were able to make it a one-goal game early in the 3rd period, but goals from Andres Kopstals and Cody Thompson would seal the road win for the Gryphs.
The Gryphons will play each of their next four games on home ice, beginning with next Thursday's "Frosty Mug" game which sees the Laurier Golden Hawks visit the Sleeman Centre. In January of 2016, a record crowd of over 4,300 fans were in attendance to cheer on the Gryphons as they battled the Western Mustangs in what was the 5th largest attendance EVER for a CIS men's hockey conference game.
Source: Guelph Gryphons
