Alexander Colle | Sports Editor || Rachael Henfrey | Contributor
Featured image: The Lions go 2-0 this weekend, bringing their record to an OUA West-best 9-2-0. | Courtesy of York Lions
Coming off of a disappointing weekend last week in which the Lions suffered their first two losses of the year, the men’s hockey team looked to bounce back this weekend against Western in London and Lakehead at York.
The London matchup at Thompson Arena on Friday saw the Lions face off against the worst team in the West division—a 3-5-1 Mustangs team that has given up a division-worst 43 goals so far this season.
Just five minutes into the game, it was Western who drew first blood, when Spenser Cobbold skated into the Lions zone in an individual effort and put one past goalie Mack Shields to give the Mustangs a one-goal lead.
Despite Western’s porous defence, York failed to make any noise in the first period, managing eight shots on goal, but failing to put any of them past Western goalie Dan Davies.
Going into the second period, both teams began to play more like themselves, and just 50 seconds in, Trevor Petersen received a pass from Derek Sheppard and blasted one past Davies to tie the game.
Ten minutes later, the Lions would score another courtesy of Dexter Bricker for his third of the year, assisted by Justin Bean. York would add one more a minute later off of a shot from Alex Mowbray, assisted by Morgan Messenger and Stefano Pezzetta.
Mustang Robert Polessello was able to get one past Shields before the end of the period, but York responded immediately in the third when Sheppard sniped one past Davies for his second point of the game, assisted by Colton Vannucci and Kyle Campbell.
Western would buckle down four minutes later and score twice in the span of one minute, first off of the stick of Cordell James during a York power play and second courtesy of Mitchell Brooks.
After the rest of the third period and overtime solved nothing, it was up to a shootout to decide the winner of the match. After allowing a goal by Mustang Cobbold, both Scott Fesser and Sheppard were able to put one past Davies, giving York the 5-4 shootout victory.
On Saturday, the Lions took on the 4-4-1 Lakehead Thunderwolves at Canlan Ice Rink, with goalie Alex Fotinos in net.
The Lions started the game slowly, which allowed Thunderwolf Daniel Del Paggio to score a goal with the assistance of Joseph Leondias and E.J. Faust after Fotinos gave up a big rebound that came right to Del Paggio.
The goal seemed to wake the Lions up, as they started to play with a little more intensity, which resulted in a goal via a blue line shot from Red Deer, Alberta native Jack Goranson.
Towards the end of the period, the Thunderwolves managed to score another goal by a deflection at the blue line from Thunderwolf Scott Gall, giving Lakehead a one-goal lead once again.
In the second period, both teams cranked up the aggression, which resulted in some bone-rattling hits from both sides.
However, it was the Lions who began to build momentum en route to their second goal of the game, courtesy of Reid Jackman with an assist by Nick Zotti.
Refusing to take their foot off the gas, York followed this up shortly after with another goal, this time by Josh LaFrance, assisted by Jackman and Goranson, which gave the Lions their first lead of the game.
Looking to put the game to bed in the third period, the Lions were able to add some insurance near the end of the period courtesy of Kegan Blasby, who sniped the puck from the left slot into the top right corner of the Thunderwolves’ net.
This goal gave the Lions a 4-2 lead, which would become the final score of the game.
Next week the Lions will be on the road, playing against the Waterloo Warriors on Friday in Waterloo, and then against the Windsor Lancers on Saturday in Windsor. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. for the first game, and 4:15 p.m. for the second.
