OUA Men's Hockey: UOIT defeated Guelph 5-3 (Exhibition Game) OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team ended 2014 on a positive note as they pulled out a 5-3 victory over the Guelph Gryphons at the Campus Ice Centre Tuesday night.
Shortly after Guelph's Seth Swenson tied things up at 3-3 off a long-range shot that handcuffed goaltender
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.), UOIT would respond with a third period goal of their own.
Brett Varrin (Ottawa, Ont.) buried a one-timer for his second of the night, receiving a cross-ice pass from
Jordan Ramsay (Pickering, Ont.) to put the Ridgebacks back in front 4-3.
UOIT would seal the victory as
Colt Kennedy (Ajax, Ont.) scored a shorthanded empty net goal from centre ice.
Varrin's other goal in the game was a result of another nice feed as he was on the receiving end of a stretch pass from defender
Jeff Braithwaite (Ennismore, Ont.), which sprung him loose to score midway through the second period.
UOIT captain
Matt Pasztor (Langton, Ont.) and
Alex Derlis (Campbellcroft, Ont.) were the other goal scorers for the Ridgebacks while Nick Trecapelli scored twice for Guelph.
The exhibition game was a good opportunity for both sides to see some game action prior to the final stretch of the regular season. Both teams played two goaltenders with O'Neill earning the decision for UOIT at the end of regulation.
UOIT heads into 2015 with a 7-9-1 conference record, good enough for seventh place in the OUA eastern conference standings. The Ridgebacks trail Queen's by two points while sitting three up on the Concordia Stingers. Guelph has dropped eight straight conference games and sit in the basement of the western conference standings at 3-10-3.
The Ridgebacks will begin 2015 on the road as they take on the Brock Badgers (8-7-1) on Friday, Jan. 9 and York (6-10-1) on Saturday, Jan. 10.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKSOverall Record: 9-11-2
Conference Record: 7-9-1
Next Game: Fri. Jan. 9 @ Brock
