The Waterloo Warriors men's hockey team seems to be hitting their stride at the right time.
The Warriors exploded for ten goals in two games, sweeping the Western Mustangs in a home-and-home weekend series with a 5-3 win in London on Friday night, and a 5-1 victory on Saturday at the Columbia Icefield Arena.
Dan Walker (Sudbury, ON/) led the way for the black and gold, registering two goals and four assists in the weekend set. The first-year forward had a goal and two helpers in each game this weekend, as he moved into the team lead in scoring. Chase Campbell (Waterloo, ON/) had five helpers (three on Friday, and two on Saturday), while Tate Popple (Brandon, MB/) found twine three times in the sweep.
With the pair of victories, the Warriors improve their point percentage to .500, moving into a tie with Western for third in the OUA Far West division. Dan Murphy (Waterford, ON/) made 36 stops for the win in Waterloo's net on Friday, while Julian Sime (Mississauga/North Bay Battalion, OHL) earned the victory on Saturday. After making 10 straight saves to star t the game, Sime was forced to leave late in the first period with an injury. Murphy stopped 16 of 17 shots to help shut the door on the Mustangs.
On Friday night, the Mustangs drew fist blood when Sean Montgomery took advantage of a strange bounce off the glass to make it 1-0 just over a minute into the game. But midway through the opening frame, Walker responded with a gorgeous toe drag and centering feed to Popple, who slammed it home to tie the game. Then, just under a minute later, Jacob Cascagnette (Kitchener, ON/) popped on a Campbell rebound to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
The Warriors extended their lead early in the second when Cascagnette broke in alone and sniped over the blocking hand of Western goaltender David Ovsjannikov to make it 3-1. But the hosts responded with two goals in a 36-second span from Shane Bulitka and Kyle Pettit, squaring the score at 3-3 after two periods.
The game remained deadlocked until the late stages of the third, when Popple one-timed a Jack Phibbs (Hagersville, ON/) pass to make it 4-3 with just over four minutes to play. Then, on a late power play, Walker rounded out the scoring with a wicked wrister to make the final 5-3 for the Warriors.
A night later at the Columbia Icefield Arena, Walker picked up right where he left off: he batted home a pinballing puck on the power play to open the scoring at the 5:37 mark of the first period. Then, in the late stages of the first, Derrick Johnson (Mount Brydges, ON/) walked down main street and fired one home for his first career OUA goal. Nolan Lee (Vancouver, BC/) and Gavin Wood (Waterloo, ON/) assisted on the Johnson tally, as each recorded their first career OUA point on the play.
With the score 2-0 late in the first, Sime was forced to leave with an injury following a goal mouth scramble. Murphy took over in relief, as the Warriors entered the first intermission up 2-0.
Just under six minutes into the second, Waterloo would extend their lead to 3-0 with another milestone goal – this time, it was defenceman Nick King (Waterloo, ON/), whose point shot ricocheted in behind Ovsjannikov for another Waterloo power play marker. Then, defenceman Dave Comeau's (Fredericton, NB/) point shot also deflected in to make the score 4-0 for the hosts.
Early in the third, Andrew Bruder got on the board for the Mustangs, but Popple responded just four minutes later when he stuffed home a Walker rebound on the short side to make the final 5-1.
The Warriors will now enjoy a late-season bye week before closing the regular season out with a massive home-and-home series against the Laurier Golden Hawks on March 11-12.
