Box Score The Waterloo Warriors' offensive attack might have been missing some key pieces, but a pair of high-scoring vets made sure they didn't miss a beat.

With injuries to leading scorer Chris Chappell (Pickering/) and top-six forward Luke Lynes (Washington/) (among others), Justin Larson (Buckhorn/) and Colin Behenna (Waterloo/) notched five points each, and the Warriors avenged an 8-2 loss on November 2 as they trounced the Toronto Varsity Blues 8-4 in front of a raucous crowd at the Columbia Icefield Arena on Friday night.

Warriors captain Joe Underwood (Canton/) added a goal and three assists, and Brett Mackie (Whitby/) scored two third period goals to push the Warriors' record to 9-8-2 on the season. Michael Markovic scored twice for the Blues, who fall to 11-8-2. Mike Morrison (Hamilton/) made 21 saves for Waterloo in the win, while Blues keeper Brett Willows turned aside 26 shots before being replaced late in the game by Michael Nishi.

For a game that included twelve total goals, the first period was relatively tame from an offensive standpoint. Markovic opened the scoring when he got free on the back post and tapped in a cross-crease pass, but Josh Woolley (Cambridge/) evened things up late in the stanza when he poked a rebound through Willows' pads to square the score at 1-1. Although scoring in the period was even, the ice was decidedly tilted in favour of the hosts – Waterloo outshot Toronto 14-3 through 20 minutes.

Toronto's Ernesto Valente opened the scoring in the second when he tipped home a point shot for a 2-1 Blues lead. Shortly thereafter, Underwood jumped in as the trailer on an odd-man rush and deflected home a gorgeous Behenna feed to tie the game again.

Less than two minutes later, Larson gave the Warriors their first lead of the night when he reached behind himself to tip in another laser feed from Behenna to make it 3-2 for Waterloo. The Blues drew even with a shorthanded marker when Markovic grabbed a Morrison giveaway and made no mistake with an open net, and Blake Boddy put the visitors in front again with a nifty play down-low to make the score 4-3 late in the second.

The turning point of the game likely came in the closing moments of the middle frame, when the Warriors, down a goal, were forced to kill off a 41-seccond 5-on-3 advantage. But instead of treading water, the Warriors actually surged to the equalizer when Colin Behenna (Waterloo/) rapped home a rebound with 39 seconds left to make it 4-4 after the second.

Waterloo then used a couple of big early stops by Morrison and a dominant power play unit to propel them to complete ownership of the final stanza. Twice in a span of 2:26 – and twice while on the power play – Mackie converted a sharp Larson-Behenna passing play for what would eventually be the game-winning goal and the first insurance marker. Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge/) potted a rebound to make it 7-4, and Larson rounded out the scoring with a late rocket one-timer on a two-man advantage.

The Warriors will now try to make it two wins in a row when they travel south to take on the Windsor Lancers tomorrow night. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 pm.

Notes: The Warriors went 4-for-8 on the power play, while Toronto went 0-for-5…Larson and Behenna have now combined for a whopping 27 points in the last six games…This was Waterloo's first victory in five games this season against Toronto-based opponents.