 |  |
CIS men's hockey Thursday roundup: Vatri scores a hat-trick as UOIT wins fourth straight home game
Photo credit UOIT Athletics
| York | 1 | UOIT | 4 | Final | Boxscore |
| OSHAWA, Ont. – Josh Vatri scored a hat-trick
in the UOIT Ridgebacks 4-1 victory over the York Lions on Thursday
night in OUA men's hockey action. The win marked the Ridgebacks
fourth straight victory at the Campus Ice Centre.
The Ridgebacks got on the board quickly as Vatri (Barrie, Ont.) scored a power play marker just 2:06 into the first period. Vatri put the rebound home off a Mike Noyes (Lucan, Ont.) point shot to give UOIT the early lead. Nathan Spaling (Drayton, Ont.) gave UOIT a 2-0 advantage 1:13 into the second period, netting his fourth goal of the season. Spaling, UOIT's all-time leading scorer now has six points in his last six games. York freshman Kyle Lamb scored a late goal in the period to cut the UOIT lead in half, as he lifted a floater past UOIT goalie Jason Guy (Whitby, Ont.). In the final frame, the Ridgebacks were all about hustle as they outworked York to secure the two-points. Vatri scored his second goal of the night, burying a one-timer midway through the period. Vatri received a great pass from his line mate Tony Rizzi (Kingston, Ont.) on a two-on-one off a York turnover. Vatri put the game on ice scoring an empty net marker with 39 seconds left on the clock. Guy had a solid performance in net for UOIT stopping 33 of 34 York shots. Guy has really excelled in the new year sporting a 2.14 goals against average in the month of January. David Blair made 29 saves for York. With the win, the Ridgebacks jump into fifth place in the OUA western conference with a 9-9-4 record. UOIT will travel to Waterloo on Friday night for a game against the fourth place Warriors (13-8-0), who are hanging on to home ice advantage in the playoffs. Source: UOIT Sports Info
|
|||||
| Western | 4 | Laurier | 3 | Final - OT | Boxscore |
WATERLOO, Ont. - The Laurier Golden Hawks rallied back from a 3-0 deficit but lost in overtime to the no. 4 ranked Mustangs. Western increases their OUA West lead to eight points with a 17-1-3 record while the Hawks fall to 12-5-5.
The first period was dominated by the Mustangs who out shot the Hawks 15-10 and had a two goal lead after one. Josh McQuade (Grimsby, Ont.) scored both goals giving him three in seven games.
Kyle Lamb (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) blasted a one-timer top shelf for a 3-0 Mustangs lead. Later in the period, Mitchell Good (Wellesley, Ont.) flew by two Western defensemen, but was robbed on the breakaway by Anthony Greico (Brampton, Ont.). He turned aside 34 of 37 shots to improve to 11-2 on the season.
The play seemed to ignite the Hawks as they scored two goals to finish the period. The first coming from Benjamin Skinner (Markham, Ont.) who faked a slap shot to elude a Western defender, and wristed his sixth of the year five hole. James Marsden (Exeter, Ont.) would set up Zackory Ray (Oakville, Ont.) from behind the net for a 3-2 Mustangs lead after two.
Western would hold onto the lead until five minutes left in the game as Ryan Bernardi (Etobicoke, Ont.) took a cross ice pass, fired it home. The goal would force overtime.
Skating into the Hawk zone on a two-on-one, Kevin Baker (Georgetown, Ont.) made a great saucer pass to Yashar Farmanara (West Vancouver, B.C.) who buried the game winner past Ryan Daniels (Pickering, Ont.). Daniels had another busy night stopping 43 of 47 shots on goal.
Laurier head coach Greg Puhalski commented on his team's comeback, "the last half we played much better, there was a sense of urgency. Creating a better fore-check was key for us."
The Hawks next game is on January 21 at the Sleeman Center against Guelph at 7 p.m.
Source: Laurier Sports Info
