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Highlights courtesy SSN


Starting goalie Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener, Ont.) made 34 saves and Warrior captain Chris Ray (Kelowna, B.C.) scored two late highlight reel goals to give Waterloo a convincing 4-0 win over the UOIT Ridgebacks on Friday evening at the CIF arena.

With the win the Warriors improved their record to 14-8-0 and sit in fourth only one point back of Lakehead and Laurier who are tied for second.  The Ridgebacks fell to 9-10-4 on the season and hold the eighth and final playoff spot in the competitive OUA west.

Rookie Josh Schappert (Winnipeg, Man.) opened the scoring for the black and gold early on their first powerplay chance, pouncing on a rebound after UOIT goalie Jason Guy (Whitby, Ont.) made the initial save on a point blank shot. The goal marked his tenth of the season. The Warriors looked dangerous on multiple rushes and extended the lead to two midway through the period after a shot by Blake Chartier (Winnipeg, Man.) was tipped home by the screening forward Andy Smith (Rosetown, Sask.).

The second period saw the Warriors with multiple chances, including a two-on-one where Ray sent a cross-crease pass to Kyle Schwende (Kitchener, Ont.), who narrowly missed the sure goal. In the end, the story of the second period was goaltending as UOIT pressured the Waterloo defence and outshot them 16-8. Hartigan, however, stood tall to keep the score 2-0 heading into the third.

The two teams came out of the intermission playing a back and forth game with chances on each side. Ten minutes in, Ray displayed his speed, cutting into the middle and snapping a wrister from the top of the circle, beating the unsuspecting Guy top corner.

Several minutes later, Ray once again showed off his dazzling speed blowing by both UOIT defenders and outwaited Guy, shovelling the puck on his backhand into the open net for his second of the game, ninth of his season.

Hartigan stood tall the remainder of the game to pick up his second shut out of the season and help his Warriors pick up the 4-0 win.  Guy was solid for UOIT stopping 31 of 35 shots in the loss.