Although the calendar has flipped, the Waterloo Warriors men's hockey team is still waiting for their luck to do the same.
The Warriors were bested in their first two games of 2018, falling 5-1 against the Western Mustangs on Friday night in London, before dropping a 3-2 nailbiter at home against the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday. The pair of defeats extend the Waterloo winless streak to six games, dropping their record to 5-10-3 on the season.
On Friday night in London, the Mustangs came out flying with three first-period goals that put the Warriors behind the eight-ball early. While the Warriors pushed back in the second period, the Mustangs were rescued by some stellar goaltending from Lucas Peresinni – the former OHLer was outstanding in his return from an injury that kept him out for most of the first half of the season, turning aside 18 second-period shots from a frustrated Waterloo squad
After Trevor Warnaar scored his second of the game to make it 4-0 early in the third, the teams exchanged goals late to make the final 5-1 for the host Mustangs. Mitch Elliot (Prince George/) notched his third marker of the season for Waterloo, while Mike Morrison (Hamilton/) stopped 33 shots in defeat.
A night later, the battle of Waterloo was renewed in front of a jammed Columbia Icefield Arena crowd. Trevor Martin (Ardrossan/) got the start in the Waterloo net, and he was excellent early on when the Hawks poured on the pressure. However, Waterloo got into penalty trouble when Nick Halagian (St. Catharines/) was assessed a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for a check from behind, and Ryan Hanes (Kanata/) took a controversial penalty for knocking the net off on the ensuing power play. On the resulting 5-on-3 advantage, Danny Hanlon slammed home a cross-crease pass to give Laurier a 1-0 lead.
But just over a minute later, at the tail-end of the major penalty, the hockey gods repaid Hanes: the veteran defenceman hit his own blue line and fired a slapper in to finish off the penalty kill. But the dump-in dipped and eluded Hawks goaltender Colin Furlong, beating him through the legs from over 100 feet out to square the score at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Waterloo claimed the lead in the second, and it was once again Hanes who found the back of the net. After Markson Bechtold (Strathmore/) pulled up on the rush and waited for help, his shot was tipped by Keigan Goetz (New Hamburg/), forcing Furlong to kick a rebound out right in front. Hanes was the trailer on the play and made no mistake, cashing the rebound to make it 2-1 Waterloo.
The lead was short-lived though, as Laurier's high-ranked penalty kill unit struck shorthanded – the Hawks won the puck at their own blue line and Will Cook was sent in alone from centre ice, making no mistake on a forehand deek to square the score at 2-2. Then, later in the second, Jeremy Pullara reclaimed the lead for Laurier when his shot hit a Warrior in front and deflected past Martin to make it 3-2 after two periods.
Despite some fast end-to-end action in the third – and despite Furlong leaving the game under physical duress in favour of Chris Festarini – Pullara's marker held up as the game-winner. The victory also clinched the inaugural season-long, multi-sport Battle of Waterloo trophy for Laurier, with their eighth win over Waterloo across all OUA-sanctioned team sports in the 2017-18 season.
The Warriors will now look to snap their skid against their highway 7 rivals, the Guelph Gryphons, on Thursday, January 11. Puck drop at the Columbia Icefield Arena is slated for 7pm.
