Box Score Acting head coach Nathan Hewitt earned his first career USports coaching victory on Friday night against the RMC Paladins – it just took a little longer than he expected.
Stephen Silas (Georgetown) scored a goal in regulation, and added one in the eighth round of the shootout, as the Warriors stormed back from a 2-goal third-period deficit to top the Paladins 3-2 in Kingston.
Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge) also scored for the Warriors, who improved to 9-11-3 on the season. The victory, coupled with Western's loss to Ottawa, gives Waterloo a five-point cushion on the Mustangs for the 8th and final playoff spot in the OUA West division. Each club has five games remaining.
Mike Morrison (Hamilton) earned the win for the Warriors between the pipes, kicking aside 21 shots. RMC got first-period goals from Seamus Maguire and Dylan Giberson, but they were led all night by goaltender Austin Hannaford – the rookie keeper made 43 saves to earn his team a point, despite being under siege for the bulk of the evening.
Whether it was missing defenceman Mike Moffat (Waterloo) and head coach Brian Bourque – who are representing Canada at the FISU World Universiade in Kazakhstan – or it was the rusty legs from the same-day bus trip from Waterloo to Kingston, the Warriors did not come out of the gate sharp. The Paladins drew first blood midway through the first, when Maguire hopped on a loose puck and rifled a power play marker over Morrison's glove to make it 1-0.
Then, late in the frame, Giberson scored a beautiful power play tally just after a 5-on-3 advantage had expired, extending the Paladins lead to 2-0 after 20 minutes. In his USports head coaching debut, Hewitt was gifted a clear message to send in the first intermission – stay out of the box, and take care of the puck.
The message, evidently, was received, as the Warriors dominated the pace of play and possession in the second. Waterloo outshot RMC 18-8 in the middle frame, but they couldn't find a crack in Hannaford's game. The Paladins' chances were few and far between, but Morrison made a huge glove save on the only RMC power play of the period, the game remained 2-0 after 40 minutes.
But the Warriors were finally rewarded for their relentless pressure in the opening minute of the third, when Silas' point shot found its way through traffic and cut the RMC advantage to 2-1. Then, with just over 12 minutes to play, Joey Champigny (East Angus) found a blocked Eric Diodati (Niagara Falls) point shot, spun on his knees, and centred the puck to Sonnenburg, who made no mistake to knot the game at 2-2.
The Warriors had a number of chances to win the game in regulation, as well as the two overtime sessions. All told, Waterloo outshot RMC 40-17 over the final two periods and overtime, but the game still needed a shootout to decide a winner.
The goaltenders starred in the shootout, as Hannaford and Morrison turned aside would-be goal-scorers one after another - 14 shooters in a row, to be exact – until Silas cracked the goose egg to open round 8 of the shootout. Morrison completed his perfect shootout evening with a save on Eric Bouchard, and the Warriors cemented the victory.
Waterloo will now wrap up its road schedule for 2016-17 on Saturday night, January 28 in the nation's capital, when they take on the Carleton Ravens. Puck drop is slated for 7pm.
