Bennett breaks a program record in a shootout loss

OUA Men's Hockey: Nipissing defeated UOIT 5-4 (SO)

OSHAWA, Ont. - The UOIT men's hockey team fell 5-4 to the Nipissing Lakers in a shootout at the Campus Ice Centre Saturday night.

Despite the loss, UOIT freshman Mitch Bennett (Fenelon Falls, Ont.) set a program high for goals in a game as he scored all four on the night. This comes on the heels of a hat-trick earlier in the season against Laurentian and now places Bennett as the Ridgebacks leader in both goals (8) and points (12). In the history of the UOIT men's hockey program, six players have recorded hat-tricks.

Both teams exchanged goals throughout the game as the Ridgebacks and Lakers went shot for shot. This included a record setting performance from the Ridgebacks as they set a new single game record with 60 total shots and 27 in the second period.

Nipissing opened the scoring before Bennett pocketed his first goal of the game on a rebound effort midway through the first. This was quickly followed by a power play goal from Bennett two minutes later which gave the Ridgebacks a first period lead. However, Nipissing would score with less than four minutes remaining in the period to even it up.

This trend continued for two more periods as Bennett recorded his third and fourth goals but both were quickly responded to by the Lakers each time.

Each team posted three shots in the overtime period but neither were able to finish the game forcing a shootout. Ridgebacks goaltender Colin Dzijacky (Thunder Bay, Ont.) came up with a save on the first shooter but was unable to stop the next two while neither UOIT shooters were able to find the back of the net.

Kirk Rafuse made several keys stops down the stretch including the two UOIT shootout attempts to earn his fourth win of the year. The Nipissing netminder was busy all night as he made a career high 56 saves in the win.

Connor O'Donnell scored two goals for Nipissing including the game-tying goal with just over seven minutes left in the third period. Grant Toulmin and Kevin Rebelo scored singles for the Lakers.

Matt Salituro (Toronto, Ont.) would have a multi-point night with two assists for UOIT.

Dzijacky finished the game with 32 saves on 36 shots and continues to face a heavy workload as he ranks seventh among all OUA goaltenders in total minutes played.

With the single point, UOIT (5-8-2) pulls in front of Concordia (4-8-3) for sixth place in the OUA eastern conference standings. Nipissing (4-11-0) jumps into a tie with Laurentian (4-11-0) for the last playoff spot.

This marked the final game of 2013 for the Ridgebacks as they will not return to action until Friday, January 3, 2014 when they will welcome Queen's to the Campus Ice Centre for their first game of the new year.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS

Overall Record: 5-14-2
Conference Record: 5-8-2

Next Game: Fri. Jan. 3 vs. Queen's (7:30 p.m.)