MEN’S HOCKEY

UOIT Ridgebacks Media Release
Thursday, January 10, 2008

OUA Far East Teams Travel From Quebec To Take on the Ridgebacks

Oshawa (OUA) – The UOIT Ridgebacks men’s hockey team (3-12-3) will take to the ice for a pair of home games this weekend as they take on the Concordia Stingers (9-7-1) on Friday night (7:30 pm) and the McGill Redmen (11-4-1) on Saturday afternoon (1:30 pm). Both games will be held at the Campus Ice Centre in Oshawa, ON and Gary Polonsky, UOIT founding president will be honoured prior to Saturday’s game.

THIS WEEK
Fri. Jan. 11 vs. Concordia Stingers – 7:30 pm
Sat. Jan. 12 vs. McGill Redmen – 1:30 pm

LAST WEEK
Fri. Jan. 4 @ Carleton W 5-4 (OT)
Sat. Jan. 5 @ UQTR L 2-7

UOIT RIDGEBACKS
The Ridgebacks enter the weekend set picking up points in three of their last five games, including a 4-3 overtime road win against the Carleton Ravens last Friday night. This will mark the Ridgebacks first appearance on home ice in 2008. Playing at the Campus Ice Centre has been an advantage for UOIT this season as they have picked up six of their nine total points at home posting a record of 2-3-2.

Shane Nolan of Enfield, Nova Scotia was the hero in Friday night’s win, as he beat Carleton’s goaltender Jordan Wakefield with a slap shot to end the game at the :55 second mark of overtime. Scoring the winning goal for UOIT’s first road win is yet another milestone for Nolan in a Ridgebacks uniform. He also scored the Ridgebacks historical first goal on October 12, 2007 against Queen’s University. Nolan is also leading the team in goals (7) and points (12) this season. Matt Mateja (Mississauga, ON) started both games in net for the Ridgebacks, making 56 stops in the two games.

CONCORDIA STINGERS
The Stingers have been a team of inconsistency this season and headed into the break on a three game losing streak with losses to McGill, Queen’s and RMC. This will mark Concordia’s first game in the OUA regular season for 2008 after the team traveled to Europe during the Holidays. The Stingers went 4-0 against their Scottish and Irish opponents, playing the Dundee Stars (W 6-4), Fife Flyers (W 6-1), and the Dundalk Bulls (W 7-2 & W 8-1).

Team captain and Sudbury native Trevor Blanchard is third in OUA scoring with 11 goals and 19 assists. Teammate Mike Baslyk leads the team is goals with 12 tallies this season. The Ridgebacks will have to focus in on keeping the dynamic duo off the score sheet Friday night if they hope to place another checkmark in the win column.

MCGILL REDMEN
The McGill Redmen recently moved up one spot to ninth in the CIS men’s hockey Top 10 rankings. McGill is 11-4-1 on the season and sit in second place in the Far East standings, six points behind UQTR but with two games in hand. McGill just wrapped up a European tour over the Holidays and their game against UOIT will be their first OUA regular season match-up since Dcember 1, 2007, a 4-3 overtime loss to the Waterloo Warriors.

On their European tour, McGill traveled to Hungry and Serbia and posted a 3-1 record: Serbia Selects (W 7-3), Vojvodina-Novi Sad All-Stars (W 3-1), Dunaujvaros Steel Bulls (L 1-2) and UTE Budapest (W 4-2). Look out for fifth year veteran Shawn Shewchuk as he is tied for 8th in league scoring with six goals and 18 assists.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This will be the first-ever meetings between the UOIT and the visiting teams. UOIT has 43 goals for and 90 goals against. Concordia has 69 goals for and 71 goals against while McGill has 61 goals for and 42 goals against. Concordia and McGill have faced each other once this season, with the Redmen coming out on top 5-3.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Goalie Matt Mateja has appeared in every game for the Ridgebacks except for the second game of the season. Mateja has started 15 of 18 regular season games including their last seven consecutive games. He has a 4.89 goals against average and an .888 save percentage. He is fourth in the CIS in minutes played (883:13).

Five OUA schools are in the Top 10 CIS Rankings this week and McGill (9) is the only team that UOIT has not faced to date. The other teams include: Western Ontario (6), Lakehead (7), UQTR (8), and Waterloo (10).

MARKETING & PROMOTIONS
Former founding UOIT president Gary Polonsky will be honoured during Saturday’s game and Intramural students will receive $2.00 admission prices. Saturday will also be Whitby Minor Hockey day at the Campus Ice Centre.

Friday’s game will kick off the $1,000 Bursary Giveaway presented by Durham Dodge/Chrysler. Durham College and UOIT student qualifiers will be selected at every UOIT Ridgebacks and Durham Lords home game for the remainder of the 2007-08 season. During the final women’s hockey home game at the Campus Ice Centre (February 9, 2008), one lucky student will walk away with a $1,000 bursary.

Michelle Boudrais (KX96 Super Star Search 2007 winner) will be performing the National Anthem on Friday night. There will also be the Source for Sports Shoot for Loot during the Intermission as well as the Whitby Wimpy’s Diner Fan of the Game.

BROADCAST
Fans can listen live to every Ridgeback home game online via the Riot Radio at www.theriotradio.com

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Scott Dennis
Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator
Durham College and UOIT Athletics
905.721.2000 Ext. 2784 (P)
905.721.3117 (F)
scott.dennis@dc-uoit.ca