Big comeback win for UOIT over Queen's


OUA Men's Hockey: UOIT defeated Queen's 3-2 (Shootout)

KINGSTON, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team erased a two-goal deficit in the third period as they defeated the Queen's Gaels 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night.

James Woodcroft (Milton, Ont.) scored the shootout winner while freshman goaltender Colin Dzijacky (Thunder Bay, Ont.) stopped all three Queen's shooters to lift UOIT to their second win of the season.

The Ridgebacks proved that giving up is not in their vocabulary as they scored two third period goals to force overtime. It was the freshmen getting things done for UOIT as Nate Mitton (Kitchener, Ont.) scored his second goal of the year at the 8:33 minute mark while Jason Shaw (Belleville, Ont.) tied the game on the power play with five minutes left on the clock.

Jeff Braithwaite (Ennismore, Ont.), James Diminie (Cobourg, Ont.) and Woodcroft picked up assists on the Ridgeback goals.

Dzijacky had a 39 save performance in his second win of the year. The first-year netminder has started all seven games for UOIT and has posted a 3.36 goals against average with a .901 save percentage.

UOIT threw 35 shots on net with Queen's goaltender Chris Clarke stopping 33 of them. Clarke stopped Kevin George (Uxbridge, Ont.) and Shaw in the shootout prior to Woodcroft's game-winning attempt.

Queen's led 1-0 after the first period as Kelly Jackson scored his fifth of the year and the Gaels outshot UOIT 11-3.

Despite allowing a single goal in the second, UOIT controlled the majority of play in the Queen's end as they had a 20-12 advantage in shots.

Final shots were 41-35 in favour of Queen's. UOIT was 1-for-2 with the man-advantage and Queen's was 0-for-2. UOIT currently has the fourth ranked power play on the road.

UOIT (2-4-1) has won two of their past three games after starting the season with four straight losses. With the point in a shootout, Queen's is still undefeated in regulation time as they sport a 3-0-4 record.

The game was the Ridgebacks final road match of a six game stretch. UOIT will return home on Thursday, November 7 for a game against the Ryerson Rams. Puck drop at the Campus Ice Centre is 7:30 p.m.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 3-10-1
Conference Record: 2-4-1

Next Game: Thu. Nov. 7 vs. Ryerson

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