Box Score On a night when the Waterloo Warriors men's hockey team was victimized by plenty of misfortune, some late-game heroics ensured that the evening would end with a lucky number seven.
Stephen Silas (Georgetown) scored the eventual game-winner with under two minutes to play, and the Warriors won their seventh straight game with a 5-4 victory over the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in the second-half opener on Saturday night at the Columbia Icefield Arena.
Colin Behenna (Waterloo) scored twice and
Chris Chappell (Pickering) added a goal and two assists for the Warriors, who improved to 11-6-1 on the season.
Brett Mackie (Whitby) also contributed two helpers, while
Kain Allicock (Markham) scored the late equalizer, setting the stage for Silas' winner.
Matt Provost and Ryan Lopes each notched two points for the Hawks, who dropped their fifth straight game to fall to 5-12-1. Despite being the victim of some bad bounces,
Mike Morrison (Hamilton) was solid in the Warriors between the pipes, making 35 stops in the win. Meanwhile, Colin Furlong, who was Morrison's former backup with the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs, turned aside 24 shots in his OUA debut.
Coming off a five-week exam and holiday break, the crosstown rivals endured some disjointed play in the first period. While the Hawks got the bulk of the shots, the Warriors got the period's only goal – a Laurier turnover found its way to the stick of Chappell, who ripped home a wrister to give the hosts a 1-0 lead after twenty minutes.
In the second period, a sloppy hockey game turned into an out-and-out game of pinball. Just 11 seconds into the frame, Morrison and defenceman
Jeff Einhorn (Red Deer) got their signals crossed behind the net, giving Laurier's Kyle Morrison an empty-net tap-in to even the score at 1-1. Then, less than three minutes later, Luke Hietkamp's centering feed went off of Waterloo's
Ryan Hanes (Kanata) and behind Morrison for a 2-1 Laurier lead.
Waterloo bounced back with a lucky bounce of their own – Mackie let a shot go that deflected multiple times on the way through, and eventually it hit Behenna's shin pad and squeezed through Furlong to make it 2-2. Behenna put the Warriors in front just moments later on the man advantage, when he had room off the right post and went top corner to make it 3-2 for the Warriors after two periods.
The Hawks struck twice in 32 seconds midway through the third to swing the lead back to the visitors. First, Matt Dupont's wraparound attempt pinballed in off of Warriors defenceman
Mike Moffat (Waterloo), squaring the score at 3-3. Then, a Taylor D'Andrea point shot deflected off of Zach Lorentz's shin pad and past Morrison to give Laurier their second lead of the game.
With Waterloo's winning streak in jeopardy as time ticked down, Allicock kicked off the late-game flurry when he broke in alone and zipped a shot off the post and in to make it 4-4. Just over two minutes later, with a tired Hawks line trapped on the ice after an icing call, Chappell won a clean faceoff and Mackie worked the puck back to Silas. The second-year defenceman ripped a slapper from the point that Furlong appeared to handle, but it squeaked through the wickets and just over the line for Silas' first goal of the season, and the game-winning marker.
The Warriors will now look to extend their winning streak to eight against one of the OUA's elite teams, as they host the McGill Redmen next Saturday. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30pm at the CIF arena.
Notes: The Warriors went 1-for-2 on the power play, while Laurier went 0-for-2…With the score 3-2 for Waterloo late in the second, Warriors captain
Joe Underwood (Canton) made a diving save on a wide-open net after Morrison misplayed a puck behind the goal…This was Waterloo's second win in the past three games over Laurier. They also defeated their cross-town rivals 4-3 on November 26.
