Hockey: Western falls to the Blue Dogs

A tip of the cap this morning goes out to the UOIT Ridgebacks, who scored their first men's hockey win over a ranked opponent by edging Western 3-2 in overtime last night in Oshawa.

It probably trivalizes it to say this was the Stanley Cup for the first-year the CIS team. Regardless, against the No. 6 Mustangs, the Ridgebacks (Blue Dogs? 'Backs? R-Backs?) came from 2-0 down to force overtime on goals by Derrick Bagshaw and Richard Power, and their goalie Matt Mateja, stopped 44-of-46 shots. Mateja, by the way, played for the Drumheller Dragons, whose name makes them sound like a team in Scotland, not Alberta.

So yes, that must have been pretty sweet, consider UOIT, coached by Marlin Muylaert, who made Guelph a national title contender in the '90s, had lost its three previous games by a combined 20-5, including a 7-2 shellacking against the same Mustangs the previous weekend.

(Actual photo caption from the Western student paper after that: "The Mustangs men's hockey team left the UOIT Ridgebacks under a pile of snow and a barrage of pucks this past weekend." Oh, to be that young again.)

(UPDATE: Maybe more mention should be made of UOIT -- The Ridgebacks got a point off Waterloo on Saturday, losing 4-3 in OT.)