Box Score

For three weeks, nothing went right for the Waterloo Warriors men's hockey team. On Friday night against Concordia, nothing could go wrong.

Justin Larson (Buckhorn) led an offensive explosion with two goals, Mike Morrison (Hamilton) made 40 saves, and the Warriors snapped a six-game losing streak with a 7-1 win over the Concordia Stingers at the Columbia Icefield Arena on Friday night.

Mitch Elliot (Prince George) and Phillip Fife (Oromocto) each scored their first CIS goals, and five other Warriors – Chris Chappell (Pickering), Matt Kennedy (Oro Medonte), Mike Moffat (Waterloo), and Brett Mackie (Whitby) and Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge) – each had two-point nights. The win is Waterloo's first since October 18, and it improves their record to 5-6-1 on the season.

For the Stingers, it was their fifth loss in the last six games, dropping their record to 4-9-0.  Robin Billingham took the loss, making 11 first-period saves before being replaced by Antoine Marchand, who stopped 13 shots for Concordia.

The Warriors came out of the gate looking every bit like a team that needed a victory. They opened the scoring just 52 seconds into the game when Mackie knocked a Chappell rebound home, and Larson extended the lead to 2-0 at the six-minute mark.

Concordia got on the board with a controversial marker, as the puck looked to hit the glass behind the Waterloo bench and bounce back into play before Hugo Vincent slammed home a rebound off the end boards. But instead of letting the bad bounce rattle them, the Warriors responded quickly where it mattered most – on the scoreboard.

Just 1:04 after the Stingers made it 2-1, Elliot scored his first as a Warrior to restore the two-goal lead. Then, only 23 seconds later, Larson squeaked home a wrister on the man advantage to give the Warriors a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Moffat added to the lead with a point shot through traffic in the opening minute of the second stanza. It turned out to be the only goal of the period, primarily due to Morrison's outstanding play – the Stingers had four power plays and a 19-6 shot advantage in the middle frame, but they couldn't beat the Waterloo keeper.

The Warriors held the 5-1 advantage until late in the third, where two highlight-reel goals punctuated the victory. First, Fife hopped past a check on the left wing boards and cut to the net with a curl-and-drag move, beating Marchand with a wrist shot. Then, just moments later, Behenna finished off a gorgeous passing play from Chappell to round out the scoring.

The Warriors will now look to start a winning streak as they prep for a 2013 Queen's Cup rematch with the UQTR Patriotes. Puck drop with the Patroites, ranked fifth in the CIS, is slated for 6:30 PM in Waterloo.

Notes: Waterloo went 1-for-3 on the power play, while Concordia went 0-for-6…Anthony Tapper (Marmora) had an assist in his regular season debut, after missing the first 11 games with an injury…Jeff Einhorn (Red Deer), out since Oct 18 with a lower body injury, returned to the lineup.