Game Summary

The Waterloo men's hockey team remained perfect on the season with a 7-3 victory over the host Ryerson Rams on Friday night at the George Bell Arena.  The Warriors sit atop the OUA west standings with a 3-0 record while Ryerson fell to 1-1 on the season.

The Rams looked good early and jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a power play goal by Jason Cassidy just three and half minutes into the opening period.

However, the Warriors would respond with three unanswered goals over the last 13 minutes of the frame. Jarrett Schnurr (Waterloo/) would notch his second of the season to tie the score at the 7:34 mark. Josh Schappert (Winnipeg/) would give Waterloo the lead with the man advantage six minutes later before Justin Larson (Buckhorn/) got his first goal as a Warrior to make the score 3-1 at the first intermission.

The Warriors kept coming in the second, making it 4-1 with the man advantage just 41 seconds into the period when Schappert beat Ryerson goaltender Troy Passingham for his second of the night. The black and gold would go up 5-1 less than a minute later on Larson's second.

The Rams finally stopped the bleeding at the 2:08 mark of the middle frame when Mark DiFruscio found the puck off a scramble and deposited it behind Waterloo goaltender Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener/). Ryerson would have two more chances to pull closer but Hartigan came up with a big save on Greg Riggs before making a glove stop on a breakaway by Cassidy. 

The Warriors would close out the second period with another power play marker. This time it was defenceman Steve Whitely (Petrolia/) with a rocket from the blue line that found the top corner past a screened Passingham.

Ryerson pressed in the third; out shooting the Warriors 18-10 in the period but Dustin Alcock was the only Ram to find the back of the net. Waterloo's Sean Moir (Calgary/) would add a power play goal in the final minute to make the final 7-3.

Special teams were a factor in the game, with over 70 minutes in penalties handed out. The Warriors scored four times on 10 power play opportunities, while the Rams went 1-for-8 with the man advantage.

Warrior captain Chris Ray (Kelowna/) had four assists in the win while CIS athlete of the week Kirt Hill (Winnipeg/) added two assists.  Hill and Schappert lead the OUA in scoring with nine points each while Ray sits in third with eight points.

Hartigan stopped 31 of 34 shots for his second win of the season while Passingham made 18 saves on 24 shots through two periods before being replaced by Steve Gleeson, who stopped nine of 10 shots faced in the third period.