OUA roundup: Windsor's Sciacca scores hat trick to propel Lancers to win

WINDSOR, Ont. - The Windsor Lancers men's hockey team, led by Jonathan Sciacca's hat trick, defeated the York Lions 6-3 on Sunday afternoon at the WFCU Centre.

Sunday's game was part of the inaugural OHL/OUA Scholastic Showcase hosted jointly by the Windsor Spitfires and the Windsor Lancers.

With the victory, the Lancers move to 8-10-3 on the season and are now firmly in control of their playoff destiny with six games remaining.

On Sunday, the Lancers fell behind 2-0 for the second straight game as the Lions got a pair of first period goals to take the early lead.

Windsor bounced back with three unanswered goals in the second period to take a 3-2 lead. Lancer goals were scored by Brett Oliphant, Kyle Lang and Jonathan Sciacca.

In the third, the Lancers got another marker from Josh Gaynor before Sciacca added his second and third goals of the game to secure the 6-3 victory.

Jim Watt made 35 saves in net for Windsor to earn the victory.

Lions goalscorers included Tyler Harrison, Cassidy Preston and Jesse Messier. York's record is now 11-10-1.

MCGILL 5, NIPISSING 3

At McGill, the No. 5 nationally-ranked Redmen (17-4-0) rebounded from a pair of consecutive losses to defeat the Nipissing Lakers 5-3 on Sunday.

Five different goalscorers hit pay dirt for the Redmen, including Christophe Longpre-Poirier, Ben Morse, Francis Verreault-Paul, Guillaume Doucet and Maxime Langelier-Parent. Verreault-Paul now has 19 goals on the season.

Scoring for the Lakers (8-13-1) were Sean Ryan, Matt Lahey and Nathan Breukelman.

The Redmen moved a point ahead of the UQTR Patriotes for first place in the OUA East.

LAKEHEAD 4, LAURIER 0

At Wilfrid Laurier, goaltender Alex Dupuis made 31 saves in a shutout as the No. 10 Lakehead Thunderwolves blanked the No. 7 Golden Hawks 4-0 on Sunday.

Dan Speer scored a pair of goals to increase his total to five on the season. Kris Hogg and Matt Dias added single tallies.

The Thunderwolves improved to 15-5-2 on the season, one point ahead of the Waterloo Warriors for second place in the OUA West. Laurier fell to 14-6-2.

WESTERN 4, UOIT 1

At Western, the No. 3 Mustangs rebounded from a Friday loss to the Brock Badgers to defeat the UOIT Ridgebacks 4-1 on Saturday.

Jason Furlong, Keaton Turkiewicz, Mike Sharp and Kevin Baker all scored for the OUA West-leading Mustangs (18-4-0). Turkiewicz's goal was his 19th of the season.

Scott Baker scored UOIT's lone goal. The Ridgebacks fell to 8-13-1.

QUEEN'S 6, NIPISSING 3

At Nipissing, Payton Liske earned a hat trick to lead the Queen's Gaels (12-10-1) to a 6-3 road victory over the Lakers (8-13-1) on Saturday.

Liske now has 14 goals for the season. Also scoring for Queen's were David Chubb, Thomas Franzon and Mike Bushby.

Matt Lahey, Brandon Happeney and Andrew Marcoux responded with goals for the Lakers.

WATERLOO 3, GUELPH 1

At Guelph, the Waterloo Warriors (15-6-1) earned a 3-1 road victory over the host Gryphons (9-10-4) on Saturday.

Chris Ray, Shane Hart and Kyle Schwende scored for the Warriors. Ray, Schwende and Kyle Sonnenburg all had two-point games.

Jake Lalonde scored Guelph's lone marker.

RYERSON 8, RMC 3

At Ryerson, Cory Konecny and Brent Small both earned a hat trick to lead the host Rams (8-11-3) to an 8-3 win over the RMC Paladins (5-14-3) on Saturday.

Ryerson's Matt Schmermund also had a multi-goal game with two goals, and earned four helpers for a six-point effort. Konecny had three helpers for a total of six points, while Alexei Dostoinov assisted on six goals.

RMC's goalscorers were Paul Whalen, Justin Lacey and Mitchell Smith scored for the Paladins.

LAKEHEAD 2, BROCK 1

At Brock, the No. 10 Thunderwolves edged the Brock Badgers 2-1 on Saturday.

All goals were scored in the third period. Scott Dobben and Matt Caria both scored to build a 2-0 lead for the Thunderwolves.

Ryan Stephenson replied for the Badgers with 88 seconds remaining in regulation, but Brock could not net the equalizer.

The Badgers fell to 9-13-1.

YORK 3, WINDSOR 2, SO

At Windsor, Nathaniel Brooks scored the shootout winner as the York Lions defeated the Lancers 3-2.

Matthew Martello and Jaskirat Gill scored second period goals to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.

The Lancers stormed back with a pair in the third period to force overtime. Matt McCready and Adam Feniak scored for Windsor.

Source: Windsor Lancers with files from OUA Communications