The Waterloo Warriors men's hockey team earned a split this weekend, as they topped the Laurier Golden Hawks 6-2 at home on Friday night, before falling to the Toronto Varsity Blues 3-0 on the road a night later.
The split gives Waterloo a 4-4-0 record on the season, after a tough 0-3 start. The victory against the Golden Hawks was Waterloo's fourth in a row – and second straight six-goal performance – but the offense dried up as Toronto halted the Warriors win streak.
Laurier 2, Waterloo 6
The weekend certainly stared off on the right foot for the black and gold, as they claimed the season's first edition of the Battle of Waterloo. Jack Phibbs (Hagersville, ON) led the way with a 3-point night, while Liam Fedak (Oakville, ON), Jacob Cascagnette (Kitchener, ON), and Brendan Bowie (Burlington, ON) all collected two points apiece. Dan Murphy (Waterford, ON) made 40 stops – including 19 in the third period – to earn the victory between the pipes.
Tate Popple (Brandon, MB/) got things started early for the Warriors, when he deflected home a Nick King (Waterloo, ON) point shot on the power play just over two minutes in. Then, later in the first, Bowie scored his first career OUA goal when he picked up a loose puck from a scramble in front, and roofed it for a 2-0 Waterloo lead after one.
Fedak notched a milestone of his own early in the second, when he converted a beautiful feed from Nate Bierd (Calgary, AB) on the rush for his first career OUA marker. Bowie added a second on a pretty passing play on the man-advantage, and the Warriors led 4-0 just 26 minutes into the game. It was enough to chase Laurier starting goaltender Christian Propp, who was replaced with rookie Matt Dunsmoor.
Sullivan Sparks finally cracked the goose egg for the visitors on the power play, but Phibbs responded with a sharp-angle goal on a Waterloo power play to make the score 5-1. Less than a minute later, Cascagnette took advantage of a Hawks giveaway and beat Dunsmoor low to the blocker side with a lightning-quick release, giving Waterloo a 6-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Chayse Herrfort got a goal back for the Hawks on a man advantage midway through the third, but Murphy shut the door and the Warriors skated away with the decisive 6-2 win.
Waterloo 0, Toronto 3
Coming off four straight wins and 16 goals in their past tree contests, the Warriors were riding high coming into their Saturday affair with the Varsity Blues in Toronto. Unfortunately, the black and gold fell victim to a combo of a rough start and some bad luck.
The Blues had 12 of the first 14 shots in the game, including the icebreaker goal from Connor Matton, who beat Waterloo netminder Julian Sime (Mississauga, ON) to make it 1-0 just over 6 minutes in. The hosts kept coming in the first, but Sime's play limited the damage to just the lone first-period tally.
Toronto doubled their lead in the second when Owen Guy took the puck in the neutral zone and marched down the left-wing side, beating Sime to make it 2-0. Billy Moskal extended the lead to 3-0 midway through the period, before the Warriors were really able to build any momentum in the offensive zone.
By the third period, the Warriors had refound some of their jump, but luck stayed on Toronto's side. Chase Cambpell and Cascagnette both rang goal posts on Waterloo power plays, and Jett Alexander was solid when called upon in a 22-save shutout. Sime responded with 24 stops in the Waterloo net.
The Warriors will now look to get back into the win column when they visit TMU on Thursday November 10 at 6pm, before hosting the York Lions at home on Saturday, November 12 at 7pm.
