OSHAWA, Ont. – The nationally ranked UOIT men's hockey team have started the regular season 4-0, but didn't do it the easy way as it took a Connor Jarvis (Port Union, Ont.) double-overtime goal to lift the Ridgebacks past the Nipissing Lakers 4-3 on Saturday.
 
Jarvis' goal came 1:11 into the second overtime period, from Cameron Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) and Jason Shaw (Ameliasburg, Ont.), on an off-angle shot that surprised Lakers goalie Jeremy Pominville.
 
The goal was Jarvis' second of the game and third in four games this season for UOIT.
 
Although the Ridgebacks are happy to start the season undefeated in conference play, heading into the third period on Saturday it looked as though they were rolling to a shutout victory.
 
Jarvis had opened the scoring 11:44 into the first period, followed by Josh Carrick (Stouffville, Ont.) making it 2-0 just 2:52 into the second.
 
Danny Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.), who was named OUA athlete of the week, pushed his goal-scoring streak to four games with his fifth of the season at the 12:39 mark of the second period.
 
At the end of the second UOIT held a 3-0 lead and was outshooting Nipissing 24-14.
 
Early in the third the Lakers took advantage of a pair of Ridgeback penalties, as Erik Robichaud was the first to beat Tyson Teichmann (Belleville, Ont.) 3:26 into the period.
 
Just under four minutes later Deverick Ottereyes capitalized on another Lakers power play to cut the lead to one.
 
UOIT's Anthony Latina (Scarborough, Ont.) took a five-minute penalty for checking from behind midway through the period, but the Ridgebacks killed off the Lakers power play and appeared to use that as positive momentum to close out the period.
 
Again the Lakers showed they weren't going to stop pushing for the equalizer as Colin Campbell beat Teichmann to tie the game 3-3 on a broken play with 4:31 to go in regulation, where the score stayed until Jarvis' overtime tally.
 
The 26-save performance by Teichmann earned him his second win of the OUA season, while Pominville made 37 saves in the Nipissing loss.
 
UOIT continues their homestand this Wednesday night when they host the RMC Paladins at the Campus Ice Centre. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
 
 
QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDS
Overall Record: 6-1-2
Conference Record: 4-0-0
 
Next Game: Wednesday, Oct. 19 vs. RMC Paladins (7:30 PM – Campus Ice Centre)