Ridgebacks undone by penalties in loss to McGill

OUA Men's Hockey: McGill defeated UOIT 4-2

OSHAWA, Ont. - The UOIT men's hockey team fell 4-2 to McGill University Saturday night at the Campus Ice Centre.

The Ridgebacks battled McGill to a 2-2 stalemate heading into the third period. Every time the second place team pulled ahead of UOIT, the Ridgebacks found an answer courtesy of goals from Brendan Wise (Stouffville, Ont.) and James Woodcroft (Milton, Ont.) in the second period.

However, a parade of penalties allowed McGill to capitalize on the power play as Cedric McNicoll scored the game winner from the point two minutes into the third period. The Ridgebacks had a total of 18 penalty minutes in the period alone which did not allow for many offensive chances as a majority of the period was spent on the penalty kill. McGill added an empty net goal with a minute remaining to double-up the Ridgebacks.

UOIT goaltender Colin Dzijacky (Thunder Bay, Ont.) again faced a high number of shots as the Ridgebacks were outshot by McGill 42-28. Dzijacky made 38 total saves in the effort increasing his season total to 419 saves ranking him fourth in the CIS in total saves this season.

McGill improves to 12-4-1 and sits alone in second place in the eastern conference, two points ahead of the Carleton Ravens (11-5-1). UOIT remains in sixth place holding a 5-9-3 conference record.

The Ridgebacks will now travel to face-off with the Royal Military College Paladins on Friday, January 10 with puck drop set for 7 p.m. RMC is winless this season at 0-14-2.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 5-15-3
Conference Record: 5-9-3

Next Game: Fri. Jan. 10 @ RMC (7 p.m.)