OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team did not suffer any type of a holiday hangover as they earned a 5-2 win over the Concordia Stingers Friday night in Montreal.
 
Loren Ulett (Port Perry, Ont.) fueled the Ridgeback offence as he netted his first-career OUA hat-trick, scoring goals in all three periods. The commerce major sits second in team scoring with nine goals, one behind Mark Petaccio (Sicklerville, N.J.).
 
Jesse Stoughton (Bobcaygeon, Ont.), who was named the game's third star, picked up assists on all three of Ulett's goals. Stoughton has ten assists this year which is a career-high.
 
Ben Blasko (Kingston, Ont.) scored the game-winning goal in the second period while Cameron Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) recorded an empty-netter to seal the victory.
 
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) looked solid in net for UOIT allowing two goals on 34 shots. The second-year netminder has allowed two goals or less in six starts this season, all of which resulted in UOIT victories.
 
Antoine Marchand made his first start of the season in goal for Concordia and allowed three goals on 29 shots before being pulled for Robin Billingham who let in one goal on four shots faced.
 
Both power play units went 1-for-4 while shots finished up 37-34 in favour of the Ridgebacks.
 
UOIT (11-5-1) remains one point ahead of Queen's (11-4-0) for fourth place in the OUA eastern conference as the Gaels pulled off a 4-3 win over UQTR (15-3-1) on Friday.
 
UOIT will have a tough test ahead of them as they begin a home-and-home series with UQTR Saturday night in Quebec. The nationally ranked Patriotes have not dropped back-to-back games since November 2014.