Warriors edge Golden Hawks in shootout

Chris Ray had three points on the night (photo by: Trevor Mahoney)

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Game highlight courtesy Laurier Athletics

The Waterloo Warriors won the second edition of the battle of Waterloo 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday evening at the Waterloo Recreation Complex.

In a penalty filled affair the Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead with Laurier bouncing back with three third period goals to even the game and send the battle to overtime. The extra frame would settle nothing and Warrior forward Andy Smith (Rosetown, Sask.) sniped the shootout winner in the fourth round to give Waterloo two big points.

Warrior netminder Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener, Ont.) stopped all four Golden Hawk shooters in the shootout and made 29 saves in the game for the win. Hawks goalie Ryan Daniels (Pickering, Ont.) made 27 saves on 30 shots for the loss.

Waterloo opened the scoring late in the first period as captain Chris Ray (Kelowna, B.C.) showed great hustle on the penalty kill picking off an astray pass to send him on the breakaway where he sniped the puck past Daniels glove hand to give Waterloo a 1-0 lead heading into the second period.

Following some big saves by Hartigan, the Warriors would add to their lead midway through the second period as Ray would once again get the better of Daniels firing a low wrister that eluded the Hawks goalie to put Waterloo up 2-0. Kyle Schwende (Kitchener, Ont.) and Jarrett Schnurr (Waterloo, Ont.) picked up the assists on Ray's second goal of the game, his fifth of the season.

The Warriors would build on their lead five minutes later with Schwende making a nice move to get open in the slot and slipped one through the legs of Daniels to put Waterloo up 3-0. Ray picked up an assist to give him a three point night.

The Warriors who looked in complete control of the game would get into penalty trouble late in the second period and the Hawks would make them pay on the power play as Thomas Middup (Richmond Hill, Ont.) would pick up a rebound off the shot of Jean-Michel Rizk (Dunham, Que.) to cut into the Waterloo lead.

Four minutes later the Hawks continued their offensive pressure and put another one past Hartigan as Rizk would show some nice patience in the crease and slide the puck in to make the score 3-2 in favour of Waterloo.

The Warriors would eventually settle down but would get into some penalty trouble once again, late in the third period and the Hawks would complete the comeback with Rizk finishing off some nice puck movement on the powerplay, his second of the game to send the battle to overtime.

Overtime settled nothing, and Hartigan and Daniels made big saves in the shootout with the eventual shootout winner coming from Andy Smith (Rosetown/) who put a nice move on Daniels to open up the five hole and made no mistake sliding it through his legs for the win.

The Warriors (6-5-0) return home as they host the Brock Badgers this evening (Friday, November 12) as part of Think Pink weekend. Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm. The game can be seen live on the Streaming Sports Network (SSN)

Game Notes:
A combined 72 minutes in penalties
Defenceman Aaron Dileo (Waterloo/) had 18 minutes in penalties on the night
Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener/) picked up his second win of the season
Both captains were in on every goal of the night

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