Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 It was a nailbiting weekend at the Columbia Icefield Arena for the Waterloo Warriors men's hockey team.
In back-to-back games that were decided within the final seven minutes of the third period, the Warriors split a pair of home games with two of their most heated rivals, the Laurier Golden Hawks and Western Mustangs.
The Warriors claimed a 6-3 victory in the first installment of the Battle of Waterloo on Friday night, before dropping a close 3-2 decision to the Mustangs a night later. The split leaves Waterloo with a 4-4-1 record, and in 6th place in the tight OUA West division.
Waterloo 6, Laurier 3
On Friday night's annual Think Pink game, the Warriors used a balanced scoring attack to take a 6-3 victory over the Golden Hawks in their first meeting of 2019-20.
Alex Pawelczyk (Sterling Heights/Dalhousie University, U SPORTS) scored twice, while the Warriors also got two-point efforts from Nick Chyzowski (Kamloops/Kamloops Blazers, WHL), Connor Lovie (London/Cochrane Crunch, NOJHL), and captain Cam Nicoll (Loretto/Newmarket Hurricanes, OJHL). Zac Coulter (Owen Sound/Elmira Sugar Kings, GOJHL) added the game-winning goal, and Keigan Goetz (New Hamburg/Halfiax Mooseheads, QMJHL) also scored for the Warriors into an empty net.
Mack Graham, Ethan Wiseman, and Will Cook all scored for the Hawks, who fell to 2-5-2. Tyler Fassl made 26 stops in a losing cause for Laurier, while Julian Sime (Mississauga/North Bay Battalion, OHL) earned the victory with 24 saves in the Waterloo net.
After a scoreless first period, the Warriors jumped onto the board early in the second when Chyzowski whacked home a rebound on the power play to make it 1-0. Then, just 36 seconds later, Nicoll deftly tipped home a Lovie shot-pass from the blue line, doubling the hosts' lead.
But the Hawks swarmed back with three consecutive goals in the middle of the wild second period, capped off with Cook's nifty individual effort breaking in on the right wing. The Warriors were undeterred though, as Pawelczyk corralled a lofted outlet pass at center ice, outmuscled his defender, and went backhand-to-forehand to beat Fassl and tie the game at 3-3 after 40 minutes.
The Warriors continued to pour the pressure on in the third, as they outshot the Hawks 13-4 over the final 20 minutes. And, with just under seven minutes to play, Coulter was finally rewarded when a puck pinballed off the end boards to Cole Murphy (Cole Harbour/Pictou Country Crushers, MJHL). Murphy's attempt to bank it in off Fassl failed, but the centered puck fell right to Coulter, who poked home the eventual game-winner. The Warriors killed off a late Laurier power play, and Goetz and Pawelczyk added empty-netters to round out the scoring.
Western 3, Waterloo 2
A night later, the Warriors found themselves on the wrong end of a deciding goal late in the third period, as they were edged 3-2 by the Mustangs.
Andrew Cordssen-David (Washington Crossing/Georgetown Raiders, OJHL) scored his first of the year, while Jack Scanlan (Penetanguishene/Stratford Warriors, GOJHL) also notched a goal for the Warriors. Ethan Szypula registered a goal and an assist for the 'Stangs, who also got goals from Kenny Huether and Kolten Olynek. Trevor Martin (Ardrossan/Calgary Hitmen, OHL) turned aside 37 shots for the Warriors, while David Ovsjannikov made 27 saves for the win.
Szypula opened the scoring with a sharp-angle roof job midway through the first, but the Warriors equalized when Cordssen-David walked in from the point and zipped a top-corner bullet of his own. And the Warriors claimed the lead less than three minutes later, when Scanlan cut to the middle on a rush and beat a screened Ovsjannikov. The goal gave Waterloo a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes, and also marked the first career USPORTS point for Jake Heerspink (Regina/Estevan Bruins, SJHL), who drew an assist on the Scanlan tally.
The Mustangs equalized in the second period when Huether jumped on his own blocked shot and made good on his second opportunity. The game sat tied at 2-2 all the way to the 16-minute mark of the third, where a bouncing puck at the side of the net was knifed home from the goal line by Olynek, giving Western a 3-2 lead. The Warriors had a flurry of chances to equalize late with the extra attacker, but Ovsjannikov closed the door as the clock hit zero.
The Warriors will now prepare for another weekday contest, as they'll visit the Brock Badgers on Thursday, November 7 at 7:15. Then, a night later, the Warriors return home for their second straight Friday night showdown at home with the Golden Hawks at 7pm.
