Victoria Alarcon
Sports & Health Editor
The night was anything but perfect for the York Lions men’s hockey team.
The numerous penalties, the missed shots at the net and the on-slaught of a top-tier team’s forwards gave the Lions their seventh loss in the season with a 5-2 score at the Canlan Ice Sports.
“Obviously, we weren’t happy with the outcome, and our discipline got us in trouble and killed our momentum,” said head coach Jim Wells.
The loss comes after the team’s poor start in the first period as the York Lions gave up two goals to their opponent without much of a fight. Scott Aarssen, left defence for the Western Mustangs, and teammate Chris Rocca flew past York’s defence and scored with a quick flick of the wrist in the first period. The goal added to the 1-0 lead Western’s Yashar Farmanara had already earned.
Though York would get back in the game in the first few minutes of the second period with a power play goal by Matt Thomson, York’s ongoing penalties left no chance for a comeback that night. Near the eighth minute of the second period, York’s Brett Short was dealt a penalty as a result of a fight with another player. Making use of that disadvantage, the Mustangs’ top player Aaron Snow scored at the front of York’s net. In total, York finished with 16 minutes on eight infractions.
The goals continued for the Mustangs as Steve Reese scored with an assist by Farmanara and Brandon Greenside. Though York scored again in the second period, it was not enough to reverse the damage.
“We made a few mental errors that cost us in the first period and they capitalized on the chances and that was kind of it. The mistakes we made, they scored on us. It was tough,” said rookie Chad Hohmann, who would be the second and last Lion to score for the team in the game.
The situation for the York Lions has grown grim in the last few games; the team’s last win was on Oct. 30 against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. Their record stands at 4-8-0 after the team’s loss on Nov. 13 against the Windsor Lancers, a team the Lions have previously beat 3-2.
Defensively, York will have to go back to the drawing board if the team wants to win.
“We’re going to be working on our back checks, we had too many odd-man rushes and we’re also going to be spending some time on our penalty kills and getting pucks into the net and finishing more,” said Wells.
The team’s first obstacle will be the McGill Martlets, a team ranked second in the Canadian Interuniversity Sports league; the Lions go head-to-head with them Nov. 19 at the Canlan Sports.
- The Lions men’s hockey team face their seventh loss in the season after a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Western Mustangs. (Pippin Lee)
