CIS men's hockey Saturday roundup: Acadia knocks off No. 4 Huskies. Horns upend No. 2 Bears

After splitting the weekend with a win and a loss, the Ravens have a record of 12-6-2 for fourth place in the OUA East.

Brandon MacLean (Burlington, Ont.) and Joey Manley (Ottawa) both finished the game with two points, giving them five points each this weekend.

After a scoreless first period, MacLean got things going for the Ravens 39 seconds into the second with a goal on the man-advantage. The Stingers responded with a powerplay marker of their own six minutes in off the stick of Jesse Goodsell (Ayer's Cliff, Que.). Michael Stinziani (Lorraine, Que.) gave Concordia its first lead of the game midway through the period when he scored a shorthanded goal, putting the Stingers up 2-1.

A minute and a half into the third, Jeff Hayes (Ottawa) scored a shorthanded goal for Carleton, tying things up at two. Neither team was able to find the back of the net again before Good won it for Carleton in the extra frame.

Ryan Dube (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) made 23 saves for the win as the Ravens more than doubled Concordia's shots, peppering Stingers goalie Maxime Joyal (Chateauguay, Que.) with 51.

The men will return to Montreal on Wednesday, Jan. 19 to take on McGill for their second matchup in six days against the No. 3 nationally ranked Redmen. The puck drops at 7 p.m.

Source: Carleton Sports Info

The win over Saint Mary's is the fourth CIS Top Ten team win this season for the Axemen, defeating StFX in week three, dropping the UPEI Panthers and UNB Varsity Reds prior to the Holiday Break on the same weekend and now the Saint Mary's Huskies.

The Huskies were on the scoreboard quickly with veteran Cam Fergus scoring his eleventh goal of the regular season with only 44 seconds expired on clock in the opening period.

It was not until the closing two minutes of the first period when first year centerman Jay Fehr tied the game at one to conclude the first period.

The Axemen took a commanding 3-1 lead in the second period on goals from Ryan Graham, his second of the weekend and the regular season, and Jonathan Laberge's first of a two goal night.

Laberge's second and fourth unanswered goal of the night came on the powerplay early in final frame. Saint Mary's finally responded with the man advantage at the 11:42 mark of the third period on Fergus' second goal of the night.

The Huskies were only able to capitalize on one of eight power play opportunities, while the Axemen netted one goal on eight powerplays. Saint Mary's outshot Acadia 30-23 shots on goal with only a second period's 13-7 Huskie advantage.

The win gives Acadia a 9-7-3 record and fifth spot in the AUS standings, two points out of third place. Acadia will prepare for Friday's tilt against Moncton Aigles Bleus, without Axeman forward Spencer Jezegou who fell to injury against StFX this past Friday.

The Huskies will head on a two game road trip next weekend to face the first place UNB Varsity Reds on Friday followed by Saturday's matchup against the fourth place UPEI Panthers who come off of a OT loss to UNB.

Source: Acadia Sports Info

The teams will be back at it on Thursday, January 20 as the Ridgebacks host York at the Campus Ice Centre for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.

With the teams combining for nine goals in the first two periods and York holding a slim 5-4 lead, it looked as if fans were going to be in for a high scoring finish in the final frame. However, this was not the case as either team was able to light the lamp and York managed to skate off with the one goal victory.

Kyle Wetering had a three point night for UOIT scoring two goals and an assist. The Pickering native has seven goals and five assists in 21 games this season.

Scott Baker (Mactier, Ont.) and Kevin George (Uxbridge, Ont.) were the other goal scorers for the Ridgebacks. Baker and George currently sit two-three in team scoring with 16 and 14 points respectively, trailing captain Nathan Spaling (Drayton, Ont.) who has 17 points.

Penalties were lopsided on the night as York had five power play opportunities compared to just one for UOIT. In total, the Ridgebacks accumulated 32 penalty minutes while the Lions had four.

Jason Guy (Whitby, Ont.) allowed five goals on 28 shots in two periods of play, while teammate Jeff Dawson (Bracebridge, Ont.) stopped all ten shots he faced after coming in relief at the beginning of the third period.

York (7-14-0) kept their postseason hopes alive as they trail UOIT (8-9-4) and Guelph (9-9-2) by six points for the final playoff spot in the OUA western conference.

Source: UOIT Sports Info

Tensions ran high as the two teams have met twice before this season, with both games incredibly close. After Warriors forward Kyle Schwende was rubbed out in the boards by defenceman Mike Gauthier while chasing a puck in the Laurier end, he took exception to the check and the ensuing shoving match resulted in both players drawing roughing minors, with Schwende taking the instigator as well.

On the ensuing powerplay, a wraparound attempt generated a rebound that Ryan Bellows poked by Waterloo's starting goalie Keaton Hartigan, giving Laurier the 1-0 lead. The Warriors would get the goal back on a powerplay of their own very late in the period. Warrior Andy Smith fired a slapshot from the point that gave a juicy rebound for Molle to clean up.

Midway through the second period, Laurier would take their second lead of the game after drawing a full two minutes of 5-on-3 action. Despite strong penalty killing by team captain Chris Ray and Thomas Cardiff, a harmless looking shot from Belle finds twine in the dying seconds of the penalties to put the Golden Hawks up by one.

With less than two minutes left in the second frame the Warriors tied the game after a Steve Whitely slapshot was cleaned up by Cory Fraser notching his second goal of the season. Less than a minute later Tyler Moir rushed down the wing and fired a shot that Laurier keeper Ryan Daniels stopped but gave up a big rebound that Moir picked up and snapped the shot over the shoulder of a sprawling Daniels.

With sound defence and key saves by Hartigan, the Warriors would hang on to the 3-2 lead, to take the third edition of the battle of Waterloo. Hartigan made 32 saves in the win while the busier of the two, Daniels stopped 43 of 46 shots.

The win puts Waterloo just a point back of third-place Lakehead and two behind Laurier in the West. They will take on the UOIT Ridgebacks again next Friday night at the CIF before traveling to Windsor to face the Lancers.

Source: Waterloo Sports info

Veteran forward Brenley Jorgensen scored two goals and added two assists as the Varsity Blues women's hockey team defeated the UOIT Ridgebacks 5-3 on Saturday, January 15 at UOIT's Campus Ice Centre.

With the win, the Blues improve to 11-9-0 and remain tied with the Queen's Gaels for fourth place, while the Ridgebacks drop to 5-12-3 and sit in eighth place.

A native of Kingston, Ont., Jorgensen assisted Ottawa native Emily Milito's second goal of the contest to even the score early in the third and went on to tally the game-winner on a breakaway with 1:31 remaining in the game.

After the Ridgebacks scored two goals in the first five minutes of the game, Milito got the Blues on the board, receiving a pass from Jorgensen and backhanding the puck over the blocker of UOIT goalie Jessica Larabie.

Jorgensen netted her first of the game midway through the second frame when she picked up a loose puck in the slot and wired it into the top corner of the net. The Ridgebacks held a 3-2 lead heading into the final frame.

Milito came off the bench early in the third period, receiving a pass from Jorgensen for a quick shot on net. The fifth-year forward and assistant captain jumped on her own rebound to slide the puck along the ice and tie the game at 3-3.

Things were looking grim for the visiting Blues; however, Jorgensen would intercept a UOIT clearing attempt in the dying minutes and streaked down the ice on a breakaway, deking around Larabie to notch the game-winner.

Fourth-year forward Lindsay Hill would add an empty-netter with 30 seconds remaining to round out the 5-3 victory.

Blues goaltender Melissa Muir posted 28 saves in the win.

The Varsity Blues return to action next Saturday, January 22 when they host their fourth annual Cheer Blue, Think Pink game versus the Waterloo Warriors at Varsity Arena. The puck drops at 4 p.m.

Source: Toronto Sports Info 

The win has major implication on the standings as the Lancers now leap frog past Guelph in the standings and sit in 6th place with a .500 record of 9-9-3.

The Lancers got a jump on the Gryphons in the first period as they peppered goalie Andrew Loverock with 22 shots.

Brett Vandehogan and Steve Ferry scored on the power play in the first period. Kyle Nishizaki and Mark Thorburn both assisted on Vandehogan's beautiful tick-tac-toe goal.

Vandehogan added his second point of the night with an assist on Ferry's powerplay blast from the point. Matt McCready also added an assist.

In the second Mike Lombardi shelved a beautiful goal from the top of the circle after Ryan Caicco won the draw cleanly onto Lombardi's stick.

The Gryphons finally got on the board in the third at the 13 minute marker as captain Kris Belan scored on the powerplay with assists going to Tim Priamo and Ken Peroff.

Guelph would add another one early in the third, again on the powerplay, as Zack Lillie went to the net strong to get his own rebound.

Jim Watt made 37 saves in the win for the Lancers second consecutive win.

Windsor will now host the Western Mustangs on Friday January 21st and the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday the 22nd. Both games are at 7:30pm at Windsor Arena.

Source: Windsor Sports Info

Jason Furlong (London, Ont.), Josh McQuade (Grimsby, Ont.), Kevin Baker (Georgetown, Ont.) and Keaton Turkiewicz (Brantford, Ont.) scored for the Mustangs while Andy Zulyniak (Winnipeg, Man.) notched Lakehead's only goal.

In tonight's win, Western moves eight points past third place Lakehead and seven points past second place Laurier.

With last night's contest still lingering, the Mustangs understood the importance of getting the first goal against a tough team like Lakehead. Furlong opened the scoring less than two minutes into play as his linemate Steve Reese (Dorchester, Ont.) threw the puck in front of Lakehead's net. Furlong was planted at the edge of the crease and batted at the rebound, scoring on his second effort.

The Thunderwolves countered Western's lead midway through the first period on the powerplay. Zulyniak picked the top corner from the left face-off circle to beat Josh Unice (Holland, Ohio) and tie the match at one apiece.

Western started the second period with 1:20 remaining on the man-advantage, but could not beat Lakehead's goaltender Alex Dupuis to secure the lead. The Mustangs went 0 for 7 on powerplay opportunities.

Western's McQuade grabbed possession of the puck and deked a Lakehead player at the blue-line to gain the offensive zone. McQuade walked in and fired a shot that hit the cross bar and jumped back out front. Skating hard to the net, McQuade grabbed his own rebound, beating Dupuis for his first goal of the season and handing Western a 2-1 lead.

The Mustangs broke out of their end just two minutes later and Turkiewicz headed towards Lakehead territory along the right-wing boards. Turkiewicz was checked by a Thunderwolves defender, but Baker gripped the puck and headed down the open lane. Baker skated full tilt towards the net and ripped a shot and beat Dupuis on the far post for a two-goal edge over Lakehead. Baker's goal marks his 11th of the season

Unice made several key saves in the second period to preserve his team's lead including a stacked pad save moments after a Lakehead forward was dumped into his net.

The Thunderwolves battled hard in the final frame, but Unice stood on his head to hold the win with 27 saves.

Turkiewicz added an empty net goal with 11 seconds left to seal the victory at 4-1.

Mustangs key forward Aaron Snow (Windsor, Ont.) left last night's game during the second period after suffering a knee injury as he was taken into the boards. Snow is expected to be out for eight months recovering. Already this season Snow has added 11 goals and 12 assists and is ranked third on the team for point leaders.

The Mustangs look to avenge last weekend's 2-1 loss to the Laurier Golden Hawks on Thursday Jan. 20 for a 7:30 p.m. rematch.

Source: Western Sports Info

With the win the Huskies move to 11-7 on the season, while the Bisons drop to 8-4-4. The Huskies are two points up on the Bisons in the Canada West standings after the series split – Manitoba won 5-3 Friday night. The Bisons have two games in hand on the Huskies.

David Reekie made 25 saves for the Huskies, while Steve Christie stopped 26 for the Bisons.

The Huskies will take a week of rest with a bye, while Manitoba returns home to host the Lethbridge Pronghorns next weekend.

Source: Saskatchewan Sports Info

Tonight's win for the Horns versus the Bears at home, is the first since a 6-5 overtime victory January 5th, 2007.

With the win the Horns move one game over .500 at 7-6-4, while the Bears suffer only their third regulation loss of the season and fall to 13-3-2.

After a relatively calm opening 8 minutes of play, the Horns scored the only goal of the opening frame with Nick Hotson scoring his third of the weekend, sweeping a rebound past Bears netminder Kurtis Mucha. The Horns held a slim 8-5 advantage in the shot department.

Assistant captain Ryan Pottruff added to the Horns lead, taking a drop pass from Taylor Gal and riffling a shot over Mucha's glove. Again it would be the only scoring in the period, but that was not because the teams lacked any chances. Horns Andrew Courtney had a glorious chance to put the Horns up three on a clear breakaway but Mucha shut down the five hole to turn Courtney away. The Horns once again held the high powered Bears offence to a single digit shot total and held a 10-9 advantage.

Down two goals, a desperate Bears team came out of the gates and upped the pressure on the Horns. Before the period was three minutes old, Ian Barteaux cut the Horns' lead in half, but the Horns would answer right back to regain the two goal advantage. Hotson broke into the Bears end and found Winston Day Chief cross crease for a tap in to put the Horns up 3-2.

Not going away quietly, the defending Canada West champion Bears took less than two minutes to bring the game back within one. Former Everett Silvertip Zach Dailey deflected Ben Lindemulder's point shot past a screened Scott Bowles.

With just more than two minutes to play, Captain Dustin Moore put the game away on a breakaway. While Mucha got a shoulder on the high shot, he didn't get enough of it and it found the back of the net.

After giving up nine goals the previous night, Bowles was solid all night for the Horns turning away 25 of the Bears 27 shots. Mucha finished with 19 saves in a losing effort.

The Horns head out on the road to face the Manitoba Bisons next weekend, while the Bears play a home-and-home series with Provincial Rival Calgary Dinos.

Source: Lethbridge Sports Info