CIS men's hockey weekend roundup

Photo credit Dave Holland, Calgary Athletics

#1 Alberta 2 #10 Calgary 1

by Matt Gutsch, U of Alberta Sports Info

EDMONTON - The No.1-ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears hockey team squeezed out another tight victory over their provincial rivals, the #10 Calgary Dinos, this time by virtue of a 2-1 score line Saturday night at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.

Fifth-year winger Chad Klassen had a goal and assist for the Bears, and JP Szaszkiewicz notched the game winning goal in the second period. Red-hot center Derek Ryan had a pair of assists in the win, as he and Klassen continue to own the Canada West scoring race. Klassen now has 20 points in eight games on Ryan's wing, while the Spokane native has 13 assists and 19 points.

Calgary captain Reid Jorgensen, who came into the weekend having scored six points in his previous five games, scored the Dinos lone goal. The fourth-year Vancouver born forward had two-points on the weekend, and he sits tied for third in Canada West scoring with 10 points.

Calgary, which dropped two games to Alberta at the beginning of October, move to a 4-3-1 record, while the Bears improve to 7-1-0.

bears.ualberta.ca

#8 Manitoba 5 Lethbridge 2

by Eoin Colquhoun, U of Lethbridge Sports Info

LETHBRIDGE, AB – After giving up eight goals the previous night, the #8 Manitoba Bisons tightened up defensively and rode the hot goaltending of Steve Christie to a weekend split and a 5-2 win over the Lethbridge Pronghorns.

2010 CIS goalie of the year, Christie, who had the night off last night, was stellar all night making 35 saves in the win, including a pair of spectacular saves off Horns Brian Matte at two crucial parts of the game. Despite giving up 4 goals, Christie's counterpart Reese St. Goddard was solid making 24 saves in the loss.

With the win the Bisons improve to 3-2-1, while the Horns fall to 1-3-2. The Horns will head out on the road next week, traveling to Vancouver to take on the 2-3-1 UBC Thunderbirds. After two weeks on the road, the Bisons return home to face the Regina Cougars.

Horns Athletics

Regina 6 UBC 2

by Braden Konschuh, U of Regina Sports Info

REGINA – The University of Regina's men's hockey team registered its fourth consecutive weekend split after defeating the UBC Thunderbirds by a 6-2 score on Saturday night in a Canada West game at The Co-Operators Centre.

The Cougars (4-4-0) move into sole possession of third place in the Canada West standings with the victory, while UBC falls to 2-3-1 on the season.

Making his third start of the season, A.J. Whiffen made 23 saves in the victory for the Cougars. Jordan White started in net for UBC, but was pulled after the first period in favour of Joe Rodwell.

Isley added an assist for a three-point night for the Cougars and now ranks second on the team with six points in eight games. Terrance DeLaronde and Cody Thoring both had a pair of assists in the win.

The Cougars will hit the road next week for a pair of games at Manitoba (3-2-1), while UBC will return home to face Lethbridge (1-3-2) in Vancouver.

U of R Athletics

Concordia Stingers @ Toronto Varsity Blues

The Varsity Blues men's hockey team scored four third-period goals to come away with a 6-2 victory over the No. 9 Concordia Stingers on Saturday, October 30 at Varsity Arena.

First-year forward Michael Markovic of Toronto opened the scoring when he finished off a passing play with Paul Dupont just six minutes into the game.

The Blues went up by two eight minutes into the second frame when rookie forward Blake Boddy of Ajax, Ont., received a cross-ice pass from Kyle Ventura and made no mistake, roofing the puck into the top corner of the net.

The Stingers finally got on the board midway through the period when Charles-Antoine Messier took advantage of a Concordia powerplay by picking up a rebound in front of the net and sending it over the glove of Blues goaltender Andrew Martin.

Toronto held a 2-1 lead heading into the third.

The Blues opened the flood gates in the final frame, scoring four goals in less than five minutes. After attempting to warp the puck around the net, Dupont of Sault Ste Marie, Ont., picked up his own rebound and roofed the puck over the shoulder of Stingers goaltender Maxime Joyal.

Just over two minutes later, Robert Kay jumped on a loose puck in the crease to score Toronto's lone powerplay marker of the game. Boddy followed that up with his second goal of the night when he deked around a Concordia defenceman and slid the puck along the ice into the left side of the net.

Blues assistant captain Dan Brewer of Cambridge, Ont., rounded out U of T's scoring when he buried a rebound off of Matt Walter's point shot with just over eight minutes remaining.

George Lovatsis would score once more for Concordia at the 13:44 mark of the third period.

Boddy was named the Varsity Blues player of the game for his two-goal performance. Martin made 30 saves in the victory.

Source: Blues Athletics

Carleton Ravens @ Queen's Gaels

Joey Derochie of Sudbury, Ont., scored the only goal of the shootout to send Queen's to a 3-2 victory over the Carleton Ravens Saturday afternoon at the Cataraqui Community Centre.

Derochie's shootout winner came after the Gaels erased a two goal deficit after falling behind midway through the game to the Ravens.

Carleton built the two goal lead thanks to markers from Joey Manley of Ottawa, and Jeff Hayes, also of Ottawa.

But the Gaels managed to claw their way back into the game when Jordon Soquila of Maple Ridge, B.C., fired a backhand past Carleton goalie Matthew Dopud of Pointe Claire, Que., on a late second period powerplay.

Queen's would draw even at the seven minute mark of the third after some great work by Jonathon Lawrance of Steinbach, Man., and Brock Ouellet of Lindsay, Ont., along the side boards. Eventually, Lawrance would find Scott Kenway of Calgary, Alta., in the slot who fired the puck past Dopud to even the score.

After the overtime period solved nothing, the game went to a shootout where Derochie scored on Queen's first attempt by firing a perfect shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net. From there, Steele De Fazio of Georgetown, Ont., made sure the goal would stand and the Gaels skated away with the win.

The shootout win now means that all four of the Gaels victories have come from either overtime or a shootout.

Source: Gaels Athletics

UQTR Patriotes @ Ryerson Rams

A late goal against cost the Ryerson men's hockey team as it lost to the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres (UQTR) Patriotes 4-3 Saturday afternoon at George Bell Arena.

The goal, which came with 26 seconds left in the game, was a disappointing result for the Rams [4-5-0] who battled back after going down 2-0 in the first period.

"I thought we deserved a better fate," Head Coach Graham Wise said. "I thought we deserved to at least get a point today."

Ryerson responded well to Friday night's loss to Ottawa by playing a hard, disciplined sixty minutes. While the team was averaging over 30 minutes in penalties after there first five games, the Rams were only in the box for six minutes on Saturday.

"Last Monday, coach Wise read us the riot act," left-winger Matt Schmermund said. "He said if you take any stupid penalties you're going to be glued to the bench."

Schmermund scored a goal and an assist in the loss, while Dave Harris and Jarrod Connolly also scored for the Rams. Harris has scored in twostraight games.

Jean-Sebastien Breton was UQTR's player of the game as he scored two goals and an assist. It was the second time in as many nights that one opposition player had at least three points.

After relieving Louie George on Friday, Rams goaltender Kori Coelho started his first OUA game Saturday. He was very active with the puck and quick with his glove hand, looking comfortable with the pace of the game. After the game, coaches and players alike were praising his performance. A starter has not been named for the next game.

The Rams begin a six game road trip that takes them through to the end of November, with stops in Quebec, Waterloo and London. The team is 1-2 away from George Bell Arena this season, but looks to use the trip as a team-bonding experience.

They replay Trois-Rivieres on Nov. 6, and will be looking for the equalizer.

"These guys came in here and took two from us, so we're going to repay them next weekend," said Schmermund.

With the loss, Ryerson dropped down to eighth in the conference and UQTR improved to fourth.

Source: Rams Athletics

Laurier Golden Hawks @ UOIT Ridgebacks

Josh Vatri snapped out of his scoring slump in a big way Saturday, firing home a laser to the top left corner in the shootout to give the UOIT Ridgebacks (3-5-0) a 2-1 home win over Laurier in OUA men's hockey action.

Ridgebacks head coach Marlin Muylaert called it an "NHL goal" and no one who saw the perfectly targeted shot fly just under the crossbar and inside the goalpost could argue.

This and Vatri's shorthanded goal that opened scoring midway through the second period are evidence he's back from a nagging groin injury that stifled his touch around the net early in the season.

This was not a game where scoring came easily. The chatter after the game in the UOIT dressing room was how the level of play was worthy of a playoff contest.

"The 1-1 tie was a fitting score for the way the two teams played," said Muylaert. "This was a really well played game."

One of the things that pleased him most about his team's play was "we didn't give away a lot of dangerous scoring chances."

Ridgebacks netminder Jeff Dawson was pivotal to the UOIT win.

"It was a terrific game for him. He really looked in control," said Muylaert, describing his goalie as "a wall in the shootout. No one came close to scoring."

Dawson made some particularly solid stops against the Golden Hawks down the stretch at the end of the third period and into overtime.

"He seemed square to all the pucks shot at him," said Muylaert.

After a 6-4 loss at the Guelph Gryphons Friday night, the Ridgebacks came out ready to play Saturday.

"Our first period might have been the best we've played all year," said Muylaert.

It was a hard-fought, close-checking contest from the start, yet things opened up in the late going with same great end-to-end rushes and good scoring chances. Laurier's Benjamin Skinner scored shorthanded on a breakaway at 16:23 of the second period to tie the game.

Five minutes of four-skaters-on-four settled nothing in overtime prior to the shootout.

This was a big win for UOIT against a Golden Hawks team that defeated them 5-4 and 8-1 earlier this season. Laurier outshot the winners 32-23.

Waterloo Warriors @ Windsor Lancers

The Warriors erased the memory of a lopsided loss to the Western Mustangs a night ago by defeating the Windsor Lancers 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday afternoon.

It was a tight checking, heated affair as the two teams met for the first time since Windsor knocked the Warriors out of the playoffs in double overtime last year.

Danny Anger tallied early in the first period for Windsor on a nice passing play from Kyle Nishizaki and Kyle Makaric.

That was the last of the scoring until the third period when the Warriors tied the game up at the 14:26 mark of the period. Josh Schappert (Winnipeg, Man.) took a pass from Kyle MacDonald (Inverness, N.S.) and Tyler Moir (Calgary, Alta.).

Neither team could score in the overtime frame, as the game headed into a shootout to determine who would pick up the extra point.

Kurt Thorner (St. Thomas, Ont.) and Steve Whitely (Petrolia, Ont.) were successful in their shootout attempts to give Waterloo the 2-1 shootout victory.

Lancer goaltender Jim Watt stood on his head facing 40 shots on the night, while Waterloo's Justin Leclerc was equal to the task facing 30 shots of his own while stopping two of three Lancer shooters in the shootout.

Source: Warriors Athletics

Lakehead Thunderwolves @ York Lions

Travis Rolheiser made 41 saves for his first career shutout as the York University Lions men's hockey team earned a 3-0 victory over the Lakehead Thunderwolves at the West Orillia Sports Complex on Saturday night (Oct. 30).

The rookie netminder from Edmonton was impressive throughout the game but particularly in the first period. The Thunderwolves spent the majority of the period in Lions' territory and fired 22 shots at Rolheiser, but he stood tall to make every save.

The Lions (4-4) managed just 10 shots on net in the first but team captain Chris Jones (Grafton, Ont.) made the most of one of them, putting the puck past Alex Dupuis for the game's first goal on a power play at the 5:52 mark. Jesse Messier (Keswick, Ont.) and Kyle Lamb (Holland Landing, Ont.) earned assists on the play.

It was apparent the Thunderwolves were getting frustrated towards the end of the first, and they came out of the intermission with far less energy in the second. Lakehead (4-3-1) had the edge in shots again, 10-9, but neither team was able to score.

Early in the third period the Lions finally got an insurance goal thanks to a trio of rookies. Ben Rubin (Montreal) and Chad Hohmann (Salmon Arm, B.C.) passed the puck to Adam Stuart (Calgary), who buried it behind Dupuis for the first goal of his career.

The Thunderwolves pulled Dupuis for an extra attacker with more than two minutes left on the clock and had several great scoring chances in the final minutes but could still not solve Rolheiser.

The goalie capped off his stellar night with a tremendous save with the Lions clinging to their lead late in the game. After diving to his right to stop one shot the puck bounced straight out to another Lakehead player, who had a wide open net in front of him. But Rolheiser managed to reach out and get his stick in front of the puck in mid air to deflect the shot and preserve the shutout.

Hohmann added an empty netter with one minute left in the game for the team's third goal.

Fifteen penalties were called in the game – seven against York and eight for Lakehead – but only Jones's first period marker was scored with the man advantage.

Source: Lions Athletics