Box Score
Missing both their top scorer and their captain, the Waterloo Warriors need a new – and sometimes, unlikely – hero to step up each night. On Saturday night, Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge) took his turn.
Sonnenburg scored two first-period goals, and Colin Behenna (Waterloo) buried a third-period tally that held up as the game-winning goal, as the Warriors topped the visiting Guelph Gryphons on Saturday night at the Columbia Icefield Arena in Waterloo.
Andrew Smith (Kitchener) also tallied for the Warriors, who ran their point streak to 13 games. They're 12-0-1 in that time, and they improved their record to 15-6-2 on the season. Meanwhile, the Gryphons had their four-game winning streak snapped, as they fell to 8-12-3 in the midst of their battle for the OUA West's final playoff spots.
The Warriors were once again without leading scorer Chris Chappell (Pickering), who is day-to-day, and captain Joe Underwood (Canton), who is out indefinitely with a broken bone in his foot.
Mike Morrison (Hamilton) turned aside 32 shots in the win for the Warriors, as he moves into a tie for 2nd in the OUA with 13 victories. Keith Hamilton was saddled with the loss for Guelph, as he made 16 saves in the final two periods. Hamilton was pressed into duty after the first period, when starter Andrew D'Agostini left the game following a goal mouth collision.
After three straight road games, and in front of their alumni weekend crowd, the Warriors came out of the gates strong. Less than four minutes in, Sonnenburg opened the scoring when he drove to the net and beat D'Agostini through the five-hole. Then, just over two minutes later, Phillip Fife (Oromocto) took advantage of a turnover and delivered a tippable shot in front for Sonnenburg, who deflected it through D'Agostini and just over the line to make it 2-0 for Waterloo.
The Gryphons bounced back with a late first period marker as the teams skated four-on-four. With some extra ice to work with, Guelph's Carlos Amestoy found a soft spot in coverage and one-timed a centering pass over Morrison's blocker to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes.
The opening minutes of the second period featured increasingly chippy play from both sides, culminating in some near-fisticuffs just past the 7-minute mark. Cooler heads eventually prevailed, and when they did, the Gryphons were able to draw even – Nick Huard made a gorgeous move on a left wing rush to beat a defender and go over Morrison's glove hand to make it 2-2.
The second period was hardly Waterloo's best, but the Warriors were able to escape with the advantage thanks to the efforts of Matt Amadio (Sault Ste. Marie). With less than a minute left in the middle frame, Amadio tracked down Guelph's Kyle Neuber in the offensive zone, picked his pocket cleanly, and centered the puck for Tommy Tsicos (Barrie). The puck bounced off of Tsicos and fell loose to the trailer Smith, who slammed it past Hamilton to give Waterloo a 3-2 advantage after two periods.
After a pair of big saves from Morrison, Behenna took advantage of a turnover in the Gryphons zone and sniped a shot far side to restore the two-goal Waterloo lead. It was a timely insurance marker, as Robert De Fulvis scored just three minutes later to draw the Gyphons to within a goal again. But that was as close as the visitors got, and the Warriors survived to earn two valuable points.
The Warriors will now head back out on the road for a pair of games next week, as they meet the Brock Badgers on Friday night before a showdown with the Western Mustangs in London next Saturday.
Notes: Both teams went 0-for-4 on the power play…Waterloo forward Brett Mackie (Whitby) saw his 9-game point streak snapped…Tsicos' assist on Smith's goal was the first point of his CIS career.
