OUA Men's Hockey: UOIT defeats Western 4-2
 
OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team got back in the win column on Friday night with a 4-2 victory over the Western Mustangs at the Campus Ice Centre.
 
Alex Derlis (Campbellcroft, Ont.) scored his first goal as a Ridgeback, which turned out to be the game-winner 16:38 into the second period. UOIT would dominate the first 40-minutes, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and outshooting Western 22-14.
 
Even with Western entering the final period on a power play, that would not stop the Ridgebacks' momentum as Kevin George (Uxbridge, Ont.) scored a breakaway shorthanded goal to put the blue and white up 4-0. UOIT leads the OUA with three shorthanded goals this season.
 
The Mustangs would get on the board with back-to-back goals less than two minutes apart shortly after George's goal, with Stefan Salituro and Stephen Gaskin scoring their third and first goals of the season respectively.
 
With Western looking to cut the Ridgeback lead to just one, UOIT goaltender Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) came up with a number of big saves to earn his third win of the season. Western would hold a 30-28 advantage in shots. O'Neill has started all six games for UOIT and has a .903 save percentage.
 
James Woodcroft (Milton, Ont.) and Cameron Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) were the other goal scorers for UOIT.
 
UOIT is 3-2-1 and sits in fourth place in the OUA eastern conference standings early in the season. After starting the year with three wins, Western has dropped two straight to fall to 3-2-0.
 
Up next for UOIT is a home game against the Guelph Gryphons (2-3-2) on Saturday, Oct. 25. Puck drop at the Campus Ice Centre is 7:30 p.m.
 
A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 4-4-2
Conference Record: 3-2-1
 
Next Game: Saturday, Oct. 25 vs. Guelph