Box Score For the last three weeks, the Waterloo Warriors haven't been able to buy a win. On Saturday night, they couldn't even buy a goal.
Mikhel Poldma's third-period seeing-eye wrister through traffic was the game's only goal, and Chris Perugini made 27 saves for the shutout as the York Lions topped the Waterloo Warriors 1-0 on Saturday night in Waterloo.
The loss extends Waterloo's winless skid to six games, dropping them to 4-6-1 on the season.
Mike Morrison (Hamilton) took the hard-luck loss in the Warriors net, turning aside 30 shots in the loss. The win improves York's record to 4-7-0, and draws them to within a point in the tight OUA West division.
The Warriors nearly tied the game twice in the game's closing minutes. With under three minutes to play, the game-tying goal was waved off and instead,
Chris Chappell (Pickering) was assessed a goaltender interference penalty. Then, with less than 10 seconds to play and the Warriors on a 6-on-4 advantage,
Colin Behenna (Waterloo) just missed converting on a cross-crease pass and
Justin Larson (Buckhorn) couldn't stuff home the rebound off the end boards.
The game was relatively tight from a defensive standpoint, and neither goalie was forced to come up with a ten-bell save. Morrison was the busier of the two on the night, but the Warriors had the best chances of the evening. The game's only goal was off a broken rush – when the puck found its way back to the point, Poldma wristed it through a crowd and past Morrison with less than 12 minutes to play in regulation.
The game could have been even further out of reach if it weren't for the Warriors penalty killing units. The Lions went 0-for-8 on the man advantage, while Waterloo went 0-for-3.
Waterloo will now look to end their skid next weekend when they welcome a pair of Quebec-based OUA Eastern teams to the Columbia Icefield Arena. On Friday, they'll face the Concordia Stingers at 7:30pm, and on Saturday, they'll host a rematch of the 2013 Queen's Cup game with the UQTR Patriotes at 6:30 pm.
