UOIT Ridgebacks Media Release
Saturday, November 29, 2008

Top ranked Laurier picks up a hard fought win over UOIT

Men’s Hockey: Laurier defeated UOIT 6-3

Waterloo, Ont. – The Ridgebacks outscored the nationally sixth ranked Laurier Golden Hawks over the last two periods in their game on Saturday night, but a one minute collapse in the first period cost the UOIT men's hockey team an upset road win.

Five minutes into the first period, Laurier would go on a scoring frenzy as they fired three goals past UOIT starting goalie Matt Mateja (Mississauga, Ont.) in a one minute span to take a commanding 3-0 lead. UOIT head coach Marlin Muylaert was forced to bring in back-up goalkeeper Nick Fontana (Whitby, Ont.), despite having him suffering a leg injury during warm-ups.

The team managed to regroup and play hard for the remainder of the game as they skated stride-for-stride with the top ranked Golden Hawks, playing a very entertaining hockey game

The teams would go scoreless for the remainder of the first period and the entire second frame as Laurier held on to their 3-0 lead. In the third, Laurier and UOIT both scored three times (Laurier’s third goal of the period was on an empty net), with Laurier coming away with the 6-3 win. Shots in the third period were 12-11 in favour of Laurier.

In a gutsy effort, Fontana made 30 stops in net, keeping the Ridgebacks within striking distance. Laurier would end up out shooting UOIT 41-23 on the night, with each team notching a power play marker.

The Ridgebacks had a tough time containing Mark Voakes of Laurier, who had one goal and three assists giving him 28 points on the year, good enough for fourth in league scoring. Barrie native Josh Vatri picked up three assists on the night for UOIT, bringing his season total to 14 points.

UOIT will wrap up the 2008 portion of their schedule against Western on Thursday, December 4 at the Campus Ice Centre (7:30 p.m.). Last season, UOIT defeated Western 3-2 in a shootout! Students at Thursday’s game will have a chance to win a free trip to Montreal!
 
GAME RECAP

UOIT 3 at Laurier 6

1st Period
1. Laurier, N. Vergeer (6) (J. Rizk, M. Voakes) 5:16 PP
2. Laurier, J. Bonneville (3) (N. Vergeer, C. Voakes) 5:46  
3. Laurier, T. Townsend (1) (M. Voakes, B. Schultz) 6:17  
 
2nd Period
Scoring - No Scoring
 
3rd Period
4. Laurier, L. Girard (13) (M. Voakes, J. Rizk) 1:15  
5. UOIT, S. Nolan (4) (J. Vatri) 2:48  
6. Laurier, R. Bernardi (2)   5:07  
7. UOIT, N. Spaling (6) (J. Vatri, S. Spade) 7:27  
8. UOIT, T. Rizzi (5) (B. Varty, J. Vatri) 16:50 PP
9. Laurier, M. Voakes (6) (T. Townsend) 18:43 EN
 
UOIT Shots: 6 6 11 TOTAL: 23
WLU Shots: 14 15 12 TOTAL: 41

Power Play Conversion
UOIT 1-2
Laurier 1-3

Goaltenders
UOIT
Mateja 2-7-1-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 6:17 SV: 5 GA: 3
Fontana 0-3-0-0 Start: 1st 6:17 Min: 33:43 SV: 30 GA: 2 [L]

Laurier
Thomson 1-1-0-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 60:00 SV: 20 GA: 3 [W]

Start : 7:32 PM
End : 9:34 PM
Attendance : 258

A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS

Conference Record: 2-10-2
Overall Record: 3-15-2

Next Home Action:
Thursday, December 4 vs. Western (7:30 p.m.) – Campus Ice Centre

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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)