Matt Dionne | Sports and Health Editor
Featured image: The Lions continue to win in a dramatic fashion, beating Lakehead in double overtime. | Courtesy of York Lions
The men’s hockey team was in Thunder Bay taking on Lakehead on back-to-back days this weekend, while the Lionesses had the weekend off.
The Lions came into the series red-hot, having won two-straight and four of their first five games of 2017.
On Friday’s game, Lakehead opened the scoring just before the halfway point in the first.
In the second period, York outshot Lakehead 14-8, but were unable to beat Thunderwolves goalie Devin Green.
However, just 42 seconds into the third, York’s Trevor Petersen scored a power-play goal that evened the score at one, assisted by Colton Vannucci and Mihkel Poldma. The rest of the period was scoreless, which meant for the second time in the last three games, overtime was needed.
Lakehead outshot York in the first overtime, but were unable to beat rookie goaltending sensation Mack Shields, which meant we were heading to double overtime.
York was once again outshot in the extra frame, only managing two shots on net. However, one shot came off the stick of Dexter Bricker, found the twine, and York won their third-straight.
Both goalies were fantastic, as Shields stopped 32 of 33 shots, while Green stopped 46 of 48.
On Saturday, the Thunderwolves were looking for some revenge. However, it was the Lions who opened the scoring under two minutes in on Derek Sheppard’s 10th goal of the season, assisted by Poldma and Bryce Milson.
Then, with just under seven minutes to play in the first, Milson added some insurance for the Lions, assisted by Sheppard and Bricker.
Just as York thought they would be taking a two-goal lead into intermission, Lakehead beat Shields to cut the Lions’ lead to a single goal.
York would respond halfway through the second, courtesy of Milner, who found the back of the net for the 13th time this season.
Lakehead would cut the lead to a single goal in the third, but it was too little too late, as the Lions would hold on for their fourth-straight victory.
Despite the additional four points, the Lions are still three points behind Ryerson for first in their division.
The Lions’ road trip continues next weekend in Sudbury on Friday, where they’ll be taking on Laurentian, then on Saturday in North Bay to take on Nipissing. The puck drops at 7:35 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., respectively.
