Game Summary

Third year Kirt Hill (Winnipeg/) scored a natural hat-trick in the third period to lift the Waterloo Warriors to a 5-3 win over the UQTR Patriotes in their home opener at CIF arena on Friday night.  The Warriors trailed 3-2 heading into the third period before Hill emerged as the hero scoring all three goals in the final frame to give Waterloo two big points.

The first period opened up with captain Chris Ray (Kelowna/) giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead on a nifty tip off of a shot from Steve Whitely (Petrolia/) on the power play.  Tyler Moir (Calgary/) picked up the other assist providing the initial re-direct on the Whitely shot. 

The Patriotes would equalize the game seven minutes later on a power play of their own with Olivier Ouelett (Drumonville, Que.) finding the back of the net.   Before the end of the first, the Warriors once again took the lead with second year Andy Smith (Rosetown/) stepping into a rebound from the high slot giving Patriotes goalie Guillaume Nadeau (St-Jean-Chrysostome, Que.) no chance on the play.

The second period opened with UQTR applying the pressure and being rewarded at the 9:53 minute mark as a Jonathan Parisien (Laval, Que.) would elude Waterloo netminder Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener/) to tie up the game 2-2.  Only three minutes later, UQTR would claim their first lead of the game in similar fashion to Parisien's goal with a shot from the slot surprising Hartigan.  Gabriel Lemieux's (Longueuil, Que.) goal would give UQTR a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

The third frame opened with several quality chances by Waterloo only to have them turned aside by Nadeau.  Following an Andy Smith (Rosetown/) penalty, Hill would streak down the right side of the ice shorthanded and notch his first of three for the Warriors.  Hill's second effort allowed the puck to skip over Nadeau's glove to tie the game 3-3.

Six minutes later the Warriors took the lead with Hill finishing off a well constructed 2-on-1 with Josh Schappert (Winnipeg/).  Schappert slid the puck over to Hill who made no mistake on the one-timer, the eventual game winning goal.  Hill would add the natural hat-trick goal into the empty net to give Waterloo the 5-3 win.

Hartigan stopped 27 of 30 shots faced to earn the win while Nadeau allowed four goals on 32 shots.

Next up for the black and gold is their second straight home game as they welcome the up and coming Nipissing Lakers tomorrow evening (Saturday, October 8) at 7:30pm at the CIF arena.