Emilie Miranda | Executive Editor, Online
Featured image: The men earned their first win of 2018. | Courtesy of Placide Ilunga
The Lions hockey teams went a combined 2-2 this weekend, dropping games against Guelph and Western, but triumphing over Lakehead and Windsor.
The women kicked things off in Guelph this weekend, and looked much better than their bottom-four record would suggest, not allowing the second-place Gryphons to get a shot on net during the opening eight minutes of the game.
After a scoreless first period, York drew first blood with two minutes to go in the second, when Brooke Anderson slid the puck five-hole on a rebound. Guelph managed to tie things in the second. Then, in the third, York took the lead twice more on goals from Kelsey McHolm and Jenna Gray, but Guelph wouldn’t go away and managed to force overtime.
Though York outshot the Gryphons 3-1 in the extra frame and had a power play opportunity, it was Guelph that came away with the 4-3 victory. Anderson and Tayler Murphy lead the team in scoring with two points each.
The men spent their Friday night at Canlan, locked into a high-scoring affair with the Lakehead Thunderwolves. A scoreless first period was followed by a second that saw six goals, four from the Lions, courtesy of Ben Verall, Stefano Pezzetta, and a pair by Adam Marsh in his Lions debut.
The Thunderwolves made it a one-goal game early in the third, and with 30 seconds to go in the game, tied it on a wrist shot that made it through a screen and past goalie Alex Fotinos.
Overtime saw big stops at both ends of the ice, but no scoring, forcing a shootout. Fotinos, who came into the game with a 2-1 record in shootouts this season, saved everything, and Derek Sheppard scored the only goal for the 5-4 win.
The women were back at it on Saturday afternoon in a game against the Windsor Lancers that saw each team given six penalties.
Courtney Gardiner opened the scoring 12 minutes into the first period, when she was left all alone in the slot for a clean look.
York looked as though they would be in trouble halfway through the second, when they allowed the Lancers’ Amy Maitre to walk into the zone for a shorthanded goal to tie the game at ones. However, two minutes later, Gray put York ahead once again, with a powerplay goal from the point that was deflected past the Windsor goalie. Erin Locke provided an insurance goal two minutes after that, and the Lions were able to hang on for the 3-1 win.
Goalie Lauren Dubie made 27 saves in the win, her fourth of the season. The team currently sits at 10th place in the OUA standings with a 5-8-3 record.
The men ended their weekend homestand on a sour note, dropping a 3-1 game to the Western Mustangs. The story of the first period wasn’t the goal that put Western ahead 1-0, but rather the number of times play had to be stopped, because the net had come off its mooring.
Late in the second period, Pezzetta tied things up on a giveaway by the Mustangs behind their own net. But half a minute later, Western retook the lead on a tip-in five-hole on Mack Shields.
York was desperate to tie the game up in the third, but pulling Shields for the extra attacker only lead to an empty net goal with less than 15 seconds remaining, which sealed the game for the Mustangs.
With the weekend split the Lions are now fourth in the OUA West with a 12-8-1 record.
The men look to rebound from the loss against the Ryerson Rams downtown on Friday, while the women hope to build a win streak on Saturday against the Nippissing Lakers in North Bay. The puck drops at 7:15 p.m. for the men, and 7:30 p.m. for the women.
