OUA roundup: Ridgebacks upset No. 7 Thunderwolves

THUNDER BAY, Ont. - Tony Rizzi (Kingston, Ont.) of the UOIT men's hockey team recorded a hat trick as the Ridgebacks upset the Lakehead Thunderwolves 6-5 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont. on Friday night.

Rizzi scored the game winning goal with exactly one minute left in the game to lift the Ridgebacks to their 10th victory of the season. Rizzi would end up with four points on the night recording three goals and an assist in the win.

The Ridgebacks (10-14-1) move two points ahead of the Brock Badgers (9-15-1) and into sole possession of the eighth and final playoff position in the OUA West standings. Both teams have three games remaining in the regular season as they fight for a playoff spot.

The No. 7 nationally-ranked Thunderwolves (17-6-2) entered the game on a six-game winning streak and were in first place in the OUA West. The loss dropped Lakehead to third place in the conference and marked only the second time this season that the Thunderwolves fell on home ice.

The Ridgebacks have made a habit off knocking off the top teams in 2010 as they snapped the Western Mustangs 16-game winning streak two weeks ago. Lakehead had defeated Western in back-to-back games last weekend to move into first place heading into this weekend.

In total, five Ridgebacks had multi-point games, a UOIT men's hockey first. Rizzi led the way with the four-point night, while defenceman Mike Noyes had one goal and two assists. Oshawa native Brent Varty recorded a goal and an assist while Ryan Spencer (Woodville, Ont.) and Nathan Spaling (Drayton, Ont.) had a pair of assists respectively.

The Ridgebacks trailed in the third period by a score of 5-4 after surrendering consecutive Lakehead power play goals. UOIT would tie the game up at the 10:28 mark of the third period as Noyes notched his fourth goal of the year. Rizzi clinched the win at the 19:00 minute mark of the third, stunning the capacity crowd at the Fort William Gardens.

UOIT goalie Jason Guy (Whitby, Ont.) made 22 saves to pick up his second consecutive win. Kyle Moir of the Thunderwolves stopped 26 of 32 Ridgeback shots in the losing effort. Both teams went 2-for-3 on the power play.

UOIT is 2-1 against Lakehead this season, as they split their weekend series in Oshawa earlier this year. The Ridgebacks will go for the series win tomorrow night as they have a rematch in Thunder Bay at 7:30 p.m. UOIT will return to the Campus Ice Centre on Friday, Feb. 12 for Whitby Minor Hockey night against the Western Mustangs. Game time at the Campus Ice Centre is 7:30 p.m.

UQTR 8, OTTAWA 2

At UQTR, Francis Charland scored a pair of goals and added an assist as the No. 3 Patriotes (20-3-2) downed the Ottawa Gee-Gees 8-2.

Charland now has 21 goals on the season. Also scoring for UQTR were Alexandre Blais, Felix Petit, Nicolas Desilets, Maxime Frechette, Jean-Sebastien Breton and Pierre-Alexandre Joncas. Breton had a three-point night as did Olivier Donovan with three assists.

Brandon McBride and Matthieu Methot scored goals for Ottawa (6-17-1).

MCGILL 5, CARLETON 1

At Carleton, the No. 6 McGill Redmen (19-5-0) defeated the host Ravens 5-1.

Alexandre Picard-Hooper netted a pair of goals for his ninth and 10th of the OUA campaign. Christophe Longpre-Poirier, Marc-Andre Dorion and Evan Vossen also scored for the Redmen.

Christian Boudeau-Mifflen scored Carleton's lone marker. The Ravens drop to 13-9-3.

WATERLOO 2, YORK 1, OT

At Waterloo, Steve Whitely scored 1:07 into overtime to lift the No. 9 Warriors (18-6-1) past the York Lions 2-1.

Brad Ouskun put the Lions (11-11-3) ahead 1-0 in the opening period.

Shane Hart tied the score near the midway mark in the third period, setting up Whitely's heroics in overtime.

WINDSOR 2, LAURIER 1, OT

At Windsor, Mark Thorburn scored at the 2:10 mark in overtime to lift the host Lancers (10-12-4) to a 2-1 win over the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (15-7-3).

The Golden Hawks never had the lead in the game. Windsor's Kyle Nishizaki scored the game's first goal in the opening minute of the third period.

Jeff Borrows responded for Laurier midway through the third period, his 10th goal of the season.

RYERSON 4, NIPISSING 3

At Nipissing, the Ryerson Rams (11-12-3) jumped out in front 3-1 en route to a 4-3 win over the host Lakers (10-14-1).

Stewart D'Eall, Greg Payne, Matt Schmermund and Cory Konecny all scored for the Rams.

Ryan Maunu, Andrew Marcoux and Justin Villeneuve replied for Nipissing.

CONCORDIA 4, RMC 2

At Concordia, Kyle Kelly scored on the power play midway through the third period, and George Lovatsis scored an empty netter to lift the Stingers (8-15-3) to a 4-2 win over the RMC Paladins (5-17-4).

Marc-André Rizk and Andrew Palombaro also scored for the Stingers.

Landon Lavictoire and Matthew Pinder scored for RMC.

Source: UOIT Ridgebacks with files from OUA Communications