Hockey: OUA West Weekly Report

Western Mustangs (1st, 11-2-0): The hottest team this side of poutine country continued their dominance this past weekend, this time however, it was against the "other" OUA division. The Purple Ponies got a quick jump on the "other" school with an equus ferus caballus as their mascot. Western netted three quick goals on Ottawa and put 19 shots on net in the first to give them enough breathing room to coast for the remainder of the game. A hat-trick from Patrick Ouellet, who had the game's first two goals, paced the ponies to a 6-4 victory. In Western's second game of their Ottawa road-trip it took them a little longer to gain that familiar breathing room, but sure enough, they got it when it mattered. After Carleton scored to bring the game to 2-1 Western netted 3 goals in the remaining half of the 3rd period to skate to a 5-1 victory. Kyle Lamb and Keaton Turkiewicz led the team this time with 3 assists each.

Lakehead Thunderwolves (2nd, 9-3-2): What was supposed to be a very, very, very, very, very easy two-game trip to RMC turned into a very bad one for the boys from Thunder Bay. Sure Lakehead got 3 out of an available 4 points but they lost more than just a game. Brock McPherson, the leading goal-scorer in Canada, is gone until January with a separated shoulder. Too add insult to injury (literally) the Thunderwolves dropped an embarrassing contest 5-4 to the Paladins; as I mentioned in a previous entry, these sorts of results could easily come back to haunt the 'wolves near the end of the season when one point could be the difference between having to go to Western or Laurier for two games or have them go to Thunder Bay for two games come playoff time. Credit to RMC: they made their shots count, as they netted 4 goals on just 18 shots, and 3 on 7 shots in the second. Clearly a game Kyle Moir wants to forget.

Laurier Golden Hawks (3rd, 9-3-1): The Hawks travelled to another school with an avian-inspired mascot as the played a very close game against Carleton where each team went stride-for-stride up until the very end. Both teams scored once in the 1st, twice in the 2nd, and once in the 3rd. Neither team budged, and Carleton was given their chance when Phillip Magistrale was called for high-sticking in the OT period. Despite putting four shots on rookie Ryan Daniels, the Ravens failed to put one of them past him, and it did them in. In the shoot-out all three of Laurier's shooters scored, sending the Ravens home with a clipped wing. Laurier then had a quick turn around and had to play Nipissing the next night. Likely very tired it took the Hawks a while before they found their stride, but 5 unanswered goals over the 2nd and 3rd periods gave them the win. Backed by a 4 point night from Ryan Bellows and bolstered by 3 assists on the backend from Chad Kennedy the Hawks completed their OUA East schedule with an impressive 3-1 record, with wins over the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place teams in that division.

Waterloo Warriors (4th, 9-4-1): The Warriors took their stingy, aggressive play on the road to Nipissing on Friday, and they sure were stingy. A 1-0 victory thanks to a goal by Jarrett Schnurr allowed Waterloo to leave North Bay with two points. In true Warrior fashion, they only allowed 16 shots on net and Keaton Hartigan had the easy shutout. Playing the next night in Ottawa, the Warriors skated to a 4-3 victory. Captain Chris Ray had a hand in all four goals, with 2 goals and 2 assists. A spectacular two minute span in the second period saw Ray score on the powerplay to bring the game to within one, and then just a minute and a half later tie the game with a short-handed tally to spark the Warriors and lead them to the win.

Brock Badgers (5th, 7-6-0): Brock, Brock, Brock, Brock, Brock...tsk tsk tsk. So much potential going into the season, so much squandered potential as the season has progressed. The Badgers began their week with a mid-week game against Ryerson, two teams in the middle of their respective division. The Badgers dropped the contest 5-2, but what is worse is the way in which they lost it: with a 2-1 lead going into the third they surrendered four unanswered goals in the final 14 minutes. And even worse? The Badgers had a 4 minute 5-on-3 right after Ryerson had taken a 3-2 lead and the failed to capitalize. The Badgers did rebound with a 2-1 victory over UofT but that hardly makes up for the poor effort earlier in the week.

Guelph (6th, 6-5-2): Yet another team feasting on the easy prey that is OUA East teams, the Gryphons had themselves a good week with victories over Toronto and Ryerson respectively. Guelph had to resort to the shootout in game one against Toronto before they could leave with the two points, but a well-placed shot from Kris Belan, the only player from either side to score, made sure the Gryphs went home happy with the 2-1 victory. Game two of their weekend saw an bookend performance as they managed 4 goals in the 1st period and 4 goals in the 3rd en-route to a decisive 8-2 win over the Rams. Belan, the hero of the night before, assumed that role again with a hat-trick to lead the Canadian Aggies.

York Lions (7th, 6-6-1): An odd week for York. They dropped a 6-1 contest to the UQTR Patriotes, but then defeated the Concordia Stingers 6-4, who earlier in the week had defeated the UQTR 5-3. York fans may say that in some backwards way they beat UQTR, but really, they beat a team who feasted on a travel-weary UQTR and there's nothing more to it. The Lions and Patriotes let their tempers get the better of them in a penalty-plagued contest which saw a total of 90 PIM handed out between the two teams, including a two-minute minor for the rarely seen "leaving the penalty box." Needless to say, UQTR took advantage and was 3-for-11 on the powerplay. Kyle Searle and Nathaniel Brooks each had four-point nights in the Lions 6-4 win over Concordia, as in another penalty-heavy game York this time took advantage and went 5-for-9 with the extra man which allowed them to pick up the win.

Windsor Lancers (8th, 5-6-2): The Lancers drew a two-game set against the Queen's Golden Gaels this week and put up some big numberw, winning both games by a score of 7-5 and 6-3 respectively. Danny Anger netted a hat-trick for the Lancers, helped by Scott Gillis who assisted on each of Anger's goals. The next night it was Scott Thorburn's turn to net 3 goals and did so including two late goals to put the game out of reach for the Gaels.

UOIT Ridgebacks (9th, 4-7-1): UOIT had the toughest draw of the week, having to go to McGill (5-1 loss) and UQTR (7-1 loss). There really wasn't anything good to draw from the week for UOIT, except they kept both games close early, opening the scoring against the Redmen and tying the game 1-1 against the Patriotes in the first period...outside of that, though, two difficult losses for a program still growing.
Next PostNewer Post Previous PostOlder Post Home

1 comment:

  1. Great read as usual. Keep them coming every week!

    That tough crossover schedule could be important down the road for UOIT. Windsor picks up two wins against Queen's while UOIT has to play McGill and UQTR. These two teams play a series coming up soon. Likely only one of these 2 teams will make the playoffs. In my mind, I think UOIT is the stronger team, but quite inconsistent. You never seem to know what to expect from them. They have so far beat Lakehead and Waterloo and deserved a point when they played Laurier.

    Looking forward to some good games this week. Western and Laurier on Thursday will hopefully be a good game. York plays Waterloo tomorrow as well (York won the last one).

    Other games into this weekend that look good are Western and Waterloo, Laurier and Brock, and Lakehead (who is 2-2-2 on the road this year) visiting the olympic ice at Guelph, who have won four in a row. Nipissing also is in tough against UQTR and McGill, but I hope they make good games of it, and maybe steal some points.

    ReplyDelete